Grandparents, please don’t give up the day job!
GRANDPARENTS: please step away from your grandchildren. Put down the toddler. According to a study this week, you are giving them cancer.
Yes, apparently grandparents are killing their grandchildren with kindness because they are over-feeding them on sweets and snacks. This, the researchers argue, condemns them to a life of obesity and illness.
I think this is offensive bunkum. And I’m sure if they weren’t so busy looking after their grandchildren, playing in the garden with them and cooking them proper meals, grandparents would have been up in arms.
Research has found that 44 per cent of children are now regularly cared for by grandparents, with children spending on average ten hours a week with them.
In many cases, grandparents are the ones who are most aware of what’s happening with children. While parents are out at work, it’s the grandparents doing the school pick-ups and helping with homework.
When couples divorce, it’s often grandparents who provide a sense of safety and constancy. From a psychological perspective, this is so important: we know the damage that divorce can bring on young people who don’t have a secure base.
It’s not easy being a grandparent. You have to walk a delicate line between being an authority figure for the child, being their friend and confidant, but not stepping on the toes of the parent.
The unconditional love that I had from mine has sustained me well into adulthood. They were my absolute champions. They gave me a sense of identity and connection to my past — and a unique warmness from knowing they would do anything for me.
Yes, they gave me sweets and biscuits but they also taught me how to fly a kite and kick a ball and took me to adventure playgrounds. My nan even taught me to unicycle. I did more exercise with them on one day than I would do in a whole week at home.
A weekend with my grandparents was an exhausting experience full of love and fun and laughter. So please, grandparents, don’t listen to these sour-faced researchers. Just keep doing what you’re doing.