September 6, 2024 —
September is the month to officially celebrate grandparents, those very special people in our lives who play a role few others can. Indeed, relationships with grandparents are one-of-a-kind bonds that serve so many uniquely positive purposes across the generations.
You Can’t Put a Price on It
Grandparents’ Day is celebrated on the first Sunday after Labor Day, declared by President Jimmy Carter in 1978, five years after Senator Jennings Randolph initially proposed the idea. This year, it is on September 8, but every day is reason to rejoice in all the benefits grandparents offer younger family members.
According to a recent AARP survey, grandparents spend just over $2,500 each year on their grandchildren, amounting to a total of $179 billion throughout the U.S. But their intangible contributions are invaluable.
Let’s explore some of them.
Wisdom and Guidance
Grandparents are great sources of treasured information, keeping family heritage, culture and traditions alive. Most love to tell stories (sometimes about the antics of their grandchildren’s parents!), memories, show photos and compare how things were with how they’ve changed. Children can read about major events in history books, but a grandparent is a living conveyor of what a certain time or experience was really like.
As older people who’ve seen a lot of life, both its triumphs and struggles, grandparents are truly wise and in a prime position to offer young grandchildren solid advice, guidance and perspective.
What’s more, studies have shown that children who know about their parents’ and grandparents’ lives have higher self-esteem, lower anxiety and a more well-rounded sense of meaning and purpose in life.
Protective Warmth
Nobody kisses a “boo boo” – either real or emotional – better than a grandparent. Grandparents are often the ones to say yes when Mom and Dad say no and the first to offer a defensive hug if they perceive their own child has been too harsh on a grandchild. Grandparents seem to have an infinite supply of patience, forgiveness and sensitivity – often much more than when they were busy parents themselves.
Grandparents are also infinitely proud of their grandchildren’s accomplishments, no matter how small. They are the best cheerleaders and only too anxious to share photos and stories of their grandchildren with others.
The unconditional love and support of a grandparent is integral to a child’s self-confidence, healthy growth and overall wellbeing.
Trusted Confidants
Grandparents can keep a secret and are often the ones in which a child or teenager will confide. Without judgment, grandparents offer a listening ear, a loving heart and “just between us” guidance and solace on matters that needn’t be shared with parents or other adults.
Available Free Time
While some grandparents are full-time caretakers of their grandchildren (see below), many are retired with ample time and enthusiasm to devote to their grandchildren. They have the freedom to engage in fun activities with youngsters, whether it be a sleepover, a day trip, a “skip-gen vacation” or reading that very last bedtime story.
Thankfully, video technology (which became so prevalent during the pandemic) allows grandparents and grandchildren who live far from each other to connect regularly in real time.
Dependable Babysitters
Today’s parents are often stressed and overwhelmed and don’t always have the budget to pay for a babysitter when they want some time just to themselves. Gone are the days when a babysitter cost $1.00 an hour; today’s teenaged babysitters charge an average of nearly $18 an hour.
Grandparents are reliable, willing and financially sound (read: free) sources of childcare for a much-needed evening or weekend away.
Primary Caretakers
Still today, however, for some families, grandparents are in the home. Research shows that across the nation, approximately 6.7 million grandparents live in a household with their grandchildren. And of those nearly 7 million, over 2 million are their grandchildren’s primary caregivers, with the number of older grandparent caregivers (aged 60+) on the rise. For these older adults, there are both challenges and rewards, and the typical grandparent-grandchild dynamics described above can be quite different.
The Invaluable Benefits of Intergenerational Relationships
Intergenerational connections benefit all of society – young people, older people, extended families and entire communities. While there are too many to list them all, key advantages of close connections across the ages are:
- Learning and growing from one another’s stories and experiences
- Combatting ageism: relationships with seniors help younger people see their value in society
- Preserving family history and connecting children to their backgrounds
- Developing mutual respect and admiration across the generations
- Realizing and utilizing the skills, talents and insights of all ages for the greater good
- Reducing isolation and creating a sense of unity and broader meaning in life
- Increasing confidence and better emotional and social skills in children
- Keeping family/community traditions and their significance alive
- Dispelling negative stereotypes about certain age groups
For those who don’t have grandchildren or grandparents, there are multiple senior mentoring programs through which older and younger people can develop meaningful bonds. Search “Senior Mentor Programs” for a variety of options.
What’s In a Name?
Finally, a blog about grandparents wouldn’t be complete without a peek into the broad variety of names people choose for themselves once their child has a child. Nowadays, it seems, a simple “Grandma” and “Grandpa” just won’t do.
While this video is very comical, it’s not far off the mark when it comes to the choices available and the effort that goes into finding just the right name. Whether it’s Mimi, Gigi, Glamma, Glammy, Nana, Bibi, Momo, Poppy, Papa, G-Pa, Grandude (yep!) or something one’s grandchild lands upon themself, names for grandparents is serious business!
Whatever you’re called, your place in a grandchild’s life is precious and priceless. And that’s something to celebrate – this month and all year long!
Life at Lathrop Is Grand.