The minute you ask a grandparent about their grandchild, they cease to be a stranger and turn into a friend. They always have some funny stories and their faces cannot hide their excitement. The bond between the two is special. However, as it turns out, it goes beyond that; the relationship is mutually beneficial for their health!
Having grandchildren is not just good for grandparent’s spirits, it’s also good for the grandchildren
A study by Evolution and Human Behavior showed that grandparents who babysit their grandkids tend to live longer. Spending time playing with their grandkids on the floor and running around the house chasing them helps keep the elderly ones more active.
Aside from the physical aspect of it, grandparents who spend a lot of time with their grandkids also have sharper minds. An Australian study showed that grandmothers who watched their grandkids once a week had the highest scores on memory and cognitive tests.
Grandchildren also help their grandparents to experience life in new and exciting ways. A person who never thought about learning an instrument might take it up when they become grannies and their grandkids need to learn it for school.
They also hear all these cute stories about excursions and school trips their grandkids go on. Not only that, but the grandparents have a listening ear in their grandkids who will always want to be regaled with tales of the old days and what their grannies got into.
A proud grandparent once said, “Grandchildren are my reward for having children” and he couldn’t have said it any better. [1]
Grandparents aren’t the only ones gaining here, the grandkids benefit too
If you thought the relationship was one-sided, think again. Here are five ways grandchildren benefit:
1. Grandparents help their grandchildren to develop a sense of history or heritage.
For a person to know who they are, they need to know where they are coming from. The sense of identity grandparents give to their grandkids have a huge impact on their understanding of themselves in the future.
2. Grandparents pass on special family traditions.
The stories grandparents tell their kids about the family also gives them something to enjoy as well as something they will appreciate forever.
3. Children with involved grandparents also tend to have higher self-esteem.
This is perhaps because their doting grandparents always have positive things to say about them. Even if the kids were bullied at some point, those kinds of positive affirmations eventually erase the sad memories and replace them with happy ones.
According to Susan Bosak, author of How to Build the Grandma Connection,
“Children who have strong ties with involved caring grandparents develop higher self-esteem, better emotional and social skills including an ability to withstand peer pressure, and enhanced academic performance.”
4. Grandparents act as an extra layer of protection
Be it emotional or financial, grandparents are always there to support their grandkids. Several grandparents have taken on the role of parents either entirely or partially. Some of them take custody of the kids when their parents are unable to do so, for instance, when they are incarcerated.
They can also just keep the seat warm till the parents return from a trip, deployment, or any other place that takes them away for a long time.
Studies have shown that children benefit when their grandparents or other family members take care of them as opposed to them being put into the foster care system