[GrandMoM]

....the need for both parents working these days to keep their head above the water, creates a very busy and stress enviorment, I do believe we Grandparents can not only take some of the pressure off the parents, but, more importantly give the children some individual attention.

[bedolido]

My wife and I have 4 kids and 8 great-kids. I can't immagine life without all of them around me.

[At _War_With_Liberals]

Agreed. This is why traditional family structure is so vital to the society.

[Loyolas Mattman]

Flat out, I owe everything I am today to my grandfather and my father. Grandparents are a gift...

[RightWingMama]

My granddaughter is the light of my life.

[eyespysomething]

My in-laws are literally a gift from God. Not only did they show me Jesus, but they are about the best substitute parents I could have, and I know they are the best grandparents my 3 sons could have!! I have always wondered what the talk about awful in-laws was about.

[Huck]

This rings true to me. My story in a nutshell: My parents were neglectful. They also had economic problems. A few times I was sent from our home in the northeast to the Deep South to live with my Grandma. Once when 6, again when 10 and then again when 12. I don't want to knock my parents. But it is just a fact that the best lessons I learned came from my Grandma. She was TOUGH. But the key lessons I remember I learned from her. About saving money. About being a man. About not complaining. About getting on in the world. All her training was practical training. She packed a lot of value into our time together, because she knew how desperately I needed it. Grandma was laid to rest two years ago in Meridian, Mississippi. I miss her and I think about her a lot. I hope she's proud of me.

[Dr. Frank fan]

....the need for both parents working these days to keep their head above the water, creates a very busy and stress enviorment, I do believe we Grandparents can not only take some of the pressure off the parents, but, more importantly give the children some individual attention.

You are so right.

What I am noticing is that there is huge irony here. One reason (not the only one) that the parents are both off working is that they have to pay for a "Social Security" system which provides pensions for grandparents to live alone (at least, in little apartments/condos in old folks' homes etc). Without "Social Security" those grandparents would, in many cases, have moved in with the children and grandchildren, which is what happens far more often in other places and which is also quite common among recent e.g. Asian immigrants (I have noticed).

In short: Kids need grandparents around in part because their parents are gone for so long. But their parents are gone for so long partially to support a system one of whose effects is to keep the grandparents away.

Who loses: everybody. (Except for politicians who get votes out of the whole deal by keeping old people dependent on their promises/demagoguery.)

[twigs]

A teacher I knew speculated recently that she attributes one reason for young children's growing lack of respect to everyone around them as no longer having access to grandparents like they once did. She said, and I agree, that you might talk back to parents, but you think twice about doing it to grandma and grandpa. The learning restraint with them helps carry over to other relationships... eventually.

[lepton]

....the need for both parents working these days to keep their head above the water, creates a very busy and stress enviorment, I do believe we Grandparents can not only take some of the pressure off the parents, but, more importantly give the children some individual attention.

...but not against the wishes of the parents.

[EdReform]

Bump! Thanks for posting this!

[EdReform]

Ping

[armed_in_sydney]

My best memories of life are time spent with my grandparents as a child.Their opinion of me has always mattered to me more than anyone elses for some reason.

[Fraulein]

ping!

[Dan from Michigan]

My Grandparents are some of the biggest influences in my life.

[tiki]

The senior adults expert also discusses a study that focused on the reactions of children to the events of September 11, 2001. The study found that a majority of elementary age children turned to their grandparents for comfort that terrible day.

My oldest granddaughter came to me first thing.

This is good to hear because 2 of my grandchildren are being raised in a broken home. They live with my son 90% of the time and spend time with their mother when she wants them. They live away from me and except for phone calls and 1 week at Christmas, 2 or 3 in summer and a few weekends I don't get to be an everyday part of their lives. I am so lucky that the other 2 live about half a block from me and I see them almost everyday.

[cherry]

"....the need for both parents working these days to keep their head above the water"

...and one reason for that is the worker nation has such a heavy, brutal tax burden that people think they have to work, and work, and work to get ahead to pay for the retirement benefits of the "grandmothers and grandfathers"...

[Arpege92]

I can remember being a little "mouthy" towards my mother as a child but I didn't dare pull that on my grandmother. She was strict but very loving....wish she were still around. It's just not the same without her.

[wimpycat]

The man on the left is the reason I vote Republican...

My other Granddaddy, a lifelong commercial fisherman, and me...

[shortstop]

Bumper Sticker: "If I Would Have Known Grandchildren Were So Much Fun, I'd Have Had Them First."

[potlatch]

Nice article. Our grandkids misbehave, like all children, but listen to my husband and I immediatly, and without question!

Jim-Rob Thank you SO much for 'putting back' the ability to easily see each FReepers 'sign-up' date!!