There are more reasons why grandparents and their grandchildren are inseparable. Children adore the attention and care that grandpas and grandmas provide while the latter are receiving huge bumps of serotonin and stress relief whenever the youngsters are around.
Today we’ll talk about the unbreakable ties that bind grandparents to their grandchildren (and the other way around), as well as the numerous benefits they’re reaping from this connection.
Children feel more carefree
While parents can often be too strict, grandparents encourage their grandchildren to explore the world through whatever glasses they want to wear. As youngsters are pressured by their parents to behave well and get the best grades possible, the atmosphere isn’t as electric around their grandpas and grandmas.
Kids usually feel as if they’re going on a vacation whenever they’re off to their grandparents, and they’re usually far more carefree than around their parents. This does not necessarily apply to kids who are raised by laid-back moms and dads. Although even then, their grandparents are typically looser.
Grandparents aren’t the first to ground a child for not getting straight As or for playing too many videogames, and they have a tendency to listen to their grandkids a bit more than their parents usually do after coming home tired from work.
In that sense, grandkids tend to have a more stable emotional growth if they’re often visiting their grandparents. This consequentially leads to improved self-esteem and more of a cheerful personality.
Kids gain a better understanding of traditions and family history
Kids tend to ask all kinds of questions, and parents either don’t know how to approach certain issues or are too tired to get onboard the seemingly never-ending loop of why’s and how’s.
On another hand, young parents didn’t absorb their dad’s maxims and mom’s life advice, and in most cases, grandparents will repeat the same teaching patterns when it comes to their grandkids.
Most ‘back in my day’ stories hide valuable lessons that kids take in through stories, whether they’re based on real-life events or spiced with a few white lies.
Each generation abandons a portion of the old traditions while integrating new ones as they keep up with the coming times. That’s why our parents can teach our kids everything about older traditions, allowing them to make up their own minds as to what morals they’ll adopt into their personality.
As far as family history goes, most young adults are too occupied with their work and raising a rapscallion or two, leaving them with little time to explore and learn more about their family tree. Grandparents have all the time in the world and usually spend a good bit of it tracing cousins, brothers, sisters, and uncles across the globe, penning everything on paper.
Grandchildren who are close to their grandpas and grandmas perform better at school
Not all children react positively to pressure. Some may be willing to spend more time studying under threats of grounding while some would retreat even deeper into themselves, which usually results in low self-esteem and a myriad of related problems with self-expression, which finally mirrors these effects onto their grades.
Again, not all parents have enough time to sit with their kids every time they need to do their math homework or science projects. Grandparents, however, have plenty of time and are more than willing to help their grandkids, whether it’s by simply listening to them or by actively teaching them.
Additionally, there’s a sense of obligation in grandchildren who are close to their grandparents when it comes to school and grades. Not wanting to let their grandpas and grandmas down, kids will go the extra mile and study harder.
Grandparents often have more time to play with the kids when they’re very young
Whether it’s doing crosswords puzzles or sudoku, chess or backgammon, or even plain old card games like Solitaire, what seniors and kids have in common is their love for games. Aside from hours of carefree fun, playing games can be very therapeutic for both sides.
Playing games with grandparents is also an educational experience for grandkids, specifically grandpas who love to tell stories as they’re solving crosswords or playing chess. Grandmas will tell them all about their favorite food and her book collection, which usually comes in handy by the time grandchildren get to the age of living alone.
It’s not uncommon to see grandpas turn their grandsons on to fishing, birdwatching, after which they might watch the game on the telly; grandmas usually turn their granddaughters on to gentler hobbies, such as knitting, reading, and fine arts.
Seniors are keeping themselves active when they’re playing with their grandchildren
Kids have limitless reserves of energy, and grandparents who want to play along are in for quite a workout as soon as the parents leave. Whether it’s playing hide and seek or playing ball, seniors who babysit their grandkids tend to be more active, and consequentially less prone to muscle atrophy and being out of shape.
This works the other way around too. Introvert kids who don’t particularly like to hang outside with friends are less likely to refuse their grandparents when they ask them to play.
Staying in touch with grandkids increases grandparents’ vitality
If the parents are a bit older, the grandparents typically don’t have too much time left, and they want to use as much of it as they can to be with their grandkids. Keeping in touch, even remotely during Pandemic – over Skype or Zoom calls, for instance – tends to increase both the motivation and lifeforce of grandparents.
In this case, draining and exceptionally fatiguing physical activities aren’t exactly the best way to go, so parents usually urge their kids to simply spend time with their grandparents by listening to their stories and being nice and quiet.
Simply being around children is enough for most grandparents, especially when they start going to school and begin experiencing new friendships so that they can share their tales with their grandpas and grandmas.
By: Kimberly Fowles
A poet, a writer, and a full-time nurse. When she’s at home, she spends her time with her four-legged friend. She grew up in Alberta with her parents and then moved to Ontario to take care of her only aunt. Caregiving is her passion. Maria dreams of moving to Australia and wants to spend at least a few years there.