Relationship Between Grandparents And Grandchildren

If you think no one can love children more than their parents can think again. Grandparents not only love their grandchildren unconditionally and more but also bring a spare of invaluable experiences to their lives. Experiences that the children cherish forever. This essay will try to analyze the specifics of the relationship between grandparents and grandchildren.

Grandparents are a lot more accommodating and tolerant with their grandchildren than they were with their own. The grandkids seem to get away with pretty much anything whereas with their children they would have probably been a lot stricter even with issues far milder. This is because grandchildren bring a new lease of life to them, revitalizing their days and taking them back to younger days spent bringing you and your siblings up. Spending time with their grandparents meanwhile is an equally enriching experience for children and benefits them in many ways. Grandparents can be good sounding boards and a source of comfort for their grandchildren.

Most kids are aware of how hard their parents work. And, they might be little, but it’s an equally tough world out there for them. Daily they are trying to navigate through school stress, homework load, and friend issues. It takes a toll on them and most times they may feel more comfortable sharing their problems and concerns with their grandparents, who tend to be less judgmental and are always eager to offer an extra ear.

Also, grandparents are a lot more supportive and encouraging when it comes to their dreams and career aspirations. For any of their struggles, grandparents are just mostly there to patiently listen to and be empathic towards their fears.

They help their grandkids connect the dots to understand their lineage and family tree. Our grandparents are an important link to our past and our family history. The often heard and repeated “Hamaray Zamanay mean to” stories about their life growing up taught us about our lineage. Now our children too get a glimpse of how life was in the past. It helps them to strengthen their identities and keeps them connected to their cultural heritage and family traditions.

It is a mutually beneficial relationship - Leading to happy kids and content grandparents. It's a complementary relationship and both parties benefit from it. Grandparents, when interacting with their grandkids, stay connected to the world as it is now. Whether it is listening to the views of younger people, learning to take a selfie, trying to make sense of that ‘senseless’ new song, ordering a cab online, or navigating through endless searches to learn a new recipe from youtube; none seem challenging when you have your little helper to guide you. On the other hand, the overall well-being and upbringing of children are, greatly affected by the positive involvement of their grandparents. Playing a new game with ‘dadu’ or learning to bake with ‘dadi’, all add to the precious moments in a child’s life. Moreover, it is a known fact that children with a high level of positive grandparental involvement display fewer emotional and behavioral problems and are seen to be more secure and much happier.

They can be excellent mentors, role models, and friends. Spending time with grandparents is an invaluable experience. Parents have lots to worry about. Office work, home stress, school, grades, diet, etc. they have enough on their plate. But grandparents without imposing too much pressure on their grandkids can be a great source of companionship to them. Plus since they have more flexibility in this regard, they don’t have to be as strict as their parents are.

Grandparents teach kids the importance of having good moral principles and values. They are a valuable resource and serve as excellent role models and mentors because of all that they have achieved and learned from their own life experiences. So even when the parent-child relationship may sometimes be complex, the grandparent-grandchild relationship is mostly effortless. Grandparents believe less in criticism and more in love, and thus complete life’s circle of love.

References

1. https://shareably.net/reasons-kids-need-grandparents/
2. https://thepsychologist.bps.org.uk/volume-18/edition-11/grandparents-and-grandchildren