Answer:
Explanation:
Grandparents have always played an important role in family life, but over the last twenty years, many have had increased responsibility for their grandchildren due to changes and issues in families and society. The first major change is the provision of child care. Grandparents, mostly grandmothers, are the major providers of child care for preschool children, particularly for babies and toddlers, when both their parents are in the workforce. Grandparents also help parents with school-age children by picking them up from school, and by caring for them during school vacations. The second change for grandparents, and the one which is associated with more difficult issues in their own lives, is when they have to take over full responsibility for bringing up grandchildren because their parents are unable to do so, often because of drug or alcohol abuse. The relationship that grandparents have with their grandchildren can also be affected by the divorce and sometimes re-partnering of the parent generation. This paper discusses the issues involved in grandparent roles in the above circumstances and suggests ways in which service providers can support grandparents.
Most grandparents look forward to the birth of a grandchild, especially the first grandchild, and the pleasure of getting to know the child without the responsibility that being a parent involves. Grandparents often have fulfilling relationships with their grandchildren, watching them learn and grow and being part of their lives, while others find that they are expected to do too much. Some have to bring up their grandchildren when the parents cannot and some do more childminding than they had expected. Some grandparents have less contact than they would like, due to separation or divorce of parents.
In developed countries like Australia, grandparents live longer, are generally better educated and healthier than previous generations. Some become grandparents when they are relatively young and in the workforce, while others, because of the later age of parents at the birth of their first child, may be retired or approaching retirement. The grandparent role changes over time as grandchildren grow, other grandchildren are born, as family members marry, separate, remarry and move away and grandparents grow old and sometimes frail.
When the first child is born, the parents have to adjust to their new roles as parents, to a changed relationship with each other, and to meeting the needs of the new baby. Grandparents, on the other hand, appear to have less adjustment to make, because it is of a different nature and less dramatic. Being both a parent and grandparent can lead to some ambiguity at times. In the beginning the parent role may be the dominant one as they watch the inexperienced parents (their child and partner) trying to cope. Nevertheless, the feelings that grandparents have for their own child and those, however loving, that they have for a grandchild are usually appreciably different (Kornhaber, 1996). Grandparents often worry more about their own child than their grandchildren for whom they generally feel less responsible.
Secure attachment to parents is seen as vital for children's emotional development but less attention is given to attachment relationships with other significant family members. However, there are advantages for children in having attachments to a number of significant adults and especially to grandparents (Silverstein, 1991; Tizard, 1986). Contact with grandparents can be mutually satisfying for both generations. Grandparents are usually not so caught up with the daily routines and issues of living with the grandchildren and have more time to listen, observe and attend to small things than busy parents. Grandparents can reflect and pass on to their grandchildren cultural knowledge as well family and community traditions (Hillman, 1999; Kornhaber, 1996). Positive relationships with grandchildren are not only satisfying for the grandparents but also offer opportunities for emotional integration rather than self-absorption in their later life development.
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