Grandparenting …
what a beautiful world
I
t’s no secret that grandparents adore their
grandchildren. Ask any grandparent and
they will agree that spending time with their
grandkids is a fun and rewarding experience.
What they may not realize is that those pre-
cious hours spent together impact a child’s
development in very important ways.
Children benefit from having a circle of
caring adults who will continue to be pres-
ent throughout their lives. With the rigorous
demands of the workforce, parents are often
too busy to spend as much time with their
kids as they want. Thankfully grandparents
are there to provide that much needed fam-
ily time. Whether they are the babysitter,
chauffer, caregiver, or confidant, grandpar-
ents fulfill the nurturing role and ensure
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that their grandkids always feel loved. These
hours spent reading books, playing games,
and sharing mutual interests show grand-
children that they can rely on their grand-
parents for support. Children see that their
grandparents are always there to listen and
offer a helping hand. In times of family cri-
sis, it is often the grandparents that provide
help and encouragement, and children learn
that they can open up to their grandparents
about anything they are experiencing. Some
bonds are so strong that children will turn
to their grandparents for emotional support
and advice when they don’t feel comfortable
sharing with anyone else.
A grandparent’s involvement in a child’s
life also means there are an extra set of eyes
GILROY • MORGAN HILL • SAN MARTIN
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2015
and ears to detect if something is wrong.
Sometimes parents are so close to their chil-
dren that they may miss early developmental
problems and consider their child’s behavior
normal. Grandparents may notice if some-
thing doesn’t seem right and raise the ques-
tion with the parents. In many cases, early
detection of a developmental issue is the key
to successful treatment.
Most grandparents are the oldest living
relatives in the family and as such they have
much wisdom to share. Coming from a dif-
ferent generation means that they have years
of life experience to draw from. They have
faced many successes and many struggles
and may have encountered situations that
parents might not have. When grandpar-
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