I support my parents as well as my grandchildren
FIONA Dorrian is happy to help care for her two grandchildren while also helping to support her parents, who have dementia.
Fiona, 58, from Glasgow, worked in teaching and was a lecturer before taking redundancy.
She now helps care for granddaughter Isla, four, and 10-month-old Daniel so son Matt and daughter-in-law Lisa can work.
“Grandparents make a fantastic contribution towards the economy,” she said.
“It’s allowing my son and daughter-in-law to continue with their careers which perhaps they wouldn’t have been able to if there wasn’t me and Lisa’s mum to step into the childcare role.
“When you have children you want to support them and do as much as you can for them.”
Fiona is committed to help until the kids go to school and says she really enjoys the time she gets to spend with them.
Lisa, 33, an operational support manager in the NHS, and pharmacist husband Matt, also 33, are grateful for the support from grandmothers Fiona and Liz.
Lisa said: “We both work fulltime and in order for us to do that we do rely on grandparents for one to two days of childcare through the week. Nursery is so expensive we couldn’t afford to put them in full-time.
“It gives us peace of mind to know the kids are well looked after and we can go to work knowing we don’t need to worry about anything. And it’s boosted my daughter’s relationship with her grandparents, which is fantastic.
“We’re in a very fortunate position that my mum and Fiona get on so well – they sort a lot of childcare problems between them.”