Being A Grandparent Should Be A Choice, Not An Obligation
Reconciling work and family life is one of the biggest complications that parents are currently facing. For this reason, they tend to ask their grandparents for help, so that they assume the role of caregivers and educators of the grandchildren. But being a grandparent should be a choice, not an obligation.
In this sense, it must be taken into account that grandparents have already been parents and have raised their own children, therefore, once old age has arrived, they may not want to continue caring for children permanently. Therefore, it is important to make sure that they want to take responsibility for the little ones.
Being a grandparent should be a choice, not an obligation
Grandparents, in most cases, are people who we know are always there, who help us to exercise motherhood or partenity, who take care of our little ones, who provide us with peace of mind and wise advice. But are we taking advantage of them?
Grandparents forced to act as caregivers
Grandparents are usually retired, reaching that age when they should enjoy their own lives, without work ties. Instead, many times, they are forced to attend to the family needs of their children, taking care of the upbringing of the grandchildren.
This can lead to a loss in the quality of life and even an increase in the risk of suffering from certain diseases, especially if they have to take care of children for long periods of time. In fact, they can suffer from the slave grandfather syndrome, a syndrome characterized by the following clinical manifestations:
- Arterial hypertension.
- Anxiety.
- Tiredness and fatigue
- Fortuitous falls.
- Hot flashes and tachycardias.
- Muscle tension.
- General discomfort.
- Sadness and discouragement.
- Lack of motivation.
- Metabolic uncontrol.
- Guilt.
This is caused by exhaustion, stress and the physical and emotional overexertion that taking responsibility for a young child when one has already reached the stage of old age can imply. These are usually extreme cases in which grandparents are forced to permanently perform certain family functions that they do not wish to perform.
Grandparents who choose to care for their grandchildren
On the other hand, there are also many grandparents who take care of their grandchildren without any kind of problem. But these tend to act as auxiliary caregivers, staying in charge of the children for short and limited periods of time.
This is the ideal, since grandparents enjoy their grandchildren without having to make an excessive effort. Thus, they choose to work as grandparents feeling great satisfaction for being useful in the family environment and being able to contribute a grain of sand to the education of the little ones.
In addition, these grandparents who assume the role of auxiliary caregiver tend to express their liking for being closer to their grandchildren and being, in some way, connected to them physically and emotionally, so that children fill their lives with activity, fun and happiness.
In short, grandparents who choose to take on the role of caregiver for their grandchildren, at specific times, consider this task to be pleasant. And, in addition, it brings them the following benefits:
- Feeling of activity.
- Mood improvement.
- Increased self-esteem.
- Improved self-concept due to being positively valued by the family.
- Assurance that children receive adequate care.
- Feeling of personal fulfillment.
Therefore, as we said at the beginning of this article, working as a grandfather should be a choice, not an obligation.
