The trend of grandparents parenting their grand children seems to be growing day by day. Obviously, the credit goes to the grandparents for looking after and taking care of their grandchildren but it is not easy to fall into a role as a parent to someone who is your grandchild.
The result of such a relationship comes with too many issues, problems, difficulties and confusions. The tremendous increase of work load on people have made them so busy that parenting their children has now become the least important thing in the daily schedule of the parents.
Image Source:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Child_pushing_grandmother_on_plastic_tricycle.jpg
The rising trend of keeping babysitters or grandparent for parenting their children ultimately results in the building up of a weak relationship between the children and the parents. The parenting of children’s children can affect the relationship between them.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Here is a look at the possible consequences of this situation on the grandparents as well as the grandchildren:
1. First of all the normal grandchildren – grandparent relationship goes missing. The fun and the excitement of visiting granny’s place is lost and this takes away the opportunity of the grandparents to be treated the way grandparents are treated.
2. If parents discipline their grandchildren their freedom is almost completely lost. The whenever, wherever attitude that defines the life of a grandparent dies down. They are not free to go wherever whenever. The grandparents find themselves thrown again into diapering, potty training and bottle feeding.
However, this is only one viewpoint. These are certainly the consequences or ill-effects of grandparents parenting their children. But this relationship has a positive side too.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
There are surely certain benefits that the grandchildren receive because of such a relationship. Here are some of them:
1. Grandparents have seen the world more than the parents have and so they know better that what is good for their children and what would harm them. So, there is always a surety that the kids do not fall in bad company or in danger. Although, parents would also not let their children fall in danger but grandparents’ experience is where it makes the difference. These grandparents will nurture and nourish their grand children in the same way as they had their children nurtured and grown.
2. Obviously, love will never be a scarce quantity. The children will get an environment of love and care, when parented by the grandparents. This love will surely be more than the love that they had given to their children because grandparents have a tendency and posses deeper feelings for their grandchildren than what they posses for their own children.
3. If well nourished, it is for sure that the grandchildren will understand the meaning of blood-relations and will surely not show any kind of disrespect otherwise in most of the cases today, grandparents are left to rot in garbage.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
So, this situation of grandparents parenting their grandchildren has both benefits and ill-effects.