10 reasons why the relationship between Grandparents and Grandchildren is so important

1) Grandparents Provide a Companion and Confidant
The bond between grandparents and grandchildren is truly special. In a study conducted by the American Psychological Association it was found that many children view their grandparent as a confidant and that having a grandparent around to talk to when your parents are too busy helps encourage better behaviour and social skills in children.
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2) Grandparents Provide Emotional Support For Family Issues
In particular, it can be difficult for children to find someone to confide in about delicate family matters or worries that they have about growing up. They may not feel comfortable talking to a parent – especially if a parent is the cause of their stress – and they may be worried about talking to their friends who aren’t always discreet.

In such cases, a grandparent provides the child with a safe and trusted role-model when the outside world often appears to be against them. Grandparents are usually one step removed from the everyday household trials and tribulations and offer a familiar face that kids can turn to in times of personal turmoil or family disruption. The American Psychological Association study mentioned above confirmed that children whose parents have divorced or separated especially benefit from having a grandparent available to offer comfort.

3) Grandparents Pass on Family History
Our past family history makes up a significant part of our own identity – which is why so many people still want to know and understand where they come from and who their ancestors were. According to an Emory University study, children who know stories about their ancestors show higher levels of emotional well-being and are better adjusted than children who haven’t been told about their past.
Just as Margaret Mead asserted in the 1960s, grandparents can help support their grandchildren to discover their ancestry, giving them a stronger sense of self. Studies have shown that having a grandparent who shares those family stories and traditions makes the grandchild much more likely to continue those traditions into adulthood with their own children.

4) Grandparents Provide Children With a Role Model For Ageing
Grandparents who live active, healthy lives also serve as role models for their grandchildren to aspire to physically. The image of the frail grandparent sitting in a rocker is being replaced with a much more active set of grandparents who take their grandchildren out on hikes and long shopping trips. According to the British Psychological Society, one of the learning interactions between grandparents and grandchildren is the grandparent serving as a role model for old age. Whether grandparents realise it or not, their own attitudes to ageing can influence what their grandkids can expect as they get older, as well as for how they will eventually care for their own parents during their golden years.

5) Grandparents Help Children to Better Understand Family Relationships
Having grandparents who are regularly involved can help children develop a deeper understanding of how family relationships work. Realising that their own parents were children once too, with a mum and dad who took care of them, can be an eye opening experience for a child and can give him or her a greater sense of how family relationships and dynamics grow and change overtime. The bond between a child’s grandparents and parent can also help him or her understand that conflicts can be worked through and overcome without having a lasting effect on a loving family relationship. According to The Legacy Project, grandparent interactions with the grandchild’s parent often define their own intergenerational relationships.

6) Grandparents Provide an Alternative Viewpoint to ‘Judgemental’ Parents
Children today are faced with many important decisions – where to go to college, which career to pursue, how to save for their first home – and grandparents have the wisdom and experience to offer an alternative way navigate these decisions when they need it. When children are feeling pressure from a parent who wants them to go in a different direction to what they want, a grandparent can provide a buffer to help smooth things over. They can also provide advice on important life issues that parents may not feel comfortable discussing. According to one AARP survey, more than half of grandparents give their grandchildren advice on such important subjects as illegal drug use, religion, and morals.

7) Grandparents Teach the Value of Family
One of the most important aspects of being a grandparent is imparting to grandchildren the importance of family. Through their actions of being involved and supportive, grandparents show their grandchildren that family extends beyond just immediate family. Children who enjoy a close relationship with their grandparents are shown what an important role extended family plays in the family dynamic and are more likely to carry those strong family views with them into adulthood. In a 2012 study conducted by MetLife, the majority of grandparents surveyed indicated that teaching their grandchildren about personal and family values was extremely important to them and 67% reported that teaching grandchildren the importance of preserving family ties as being their highest priority in that area.
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8) Grandparents Teach Children New Skills
Ask an adult about spending time with their grandparents during childhood and you are likely to hear fond memories of baking with Grandma or working in the garden with Grandpa. Grandparents can teach their grandchildren skills that they may not have learned elsewhere. Many parents complain they are too busy with work and other commitments to give their children the time they deserve (Pew reports that over a quarter of Moms and almost half of all Dads feel conflicted), but most grandparents say they would relish the opportunity to introduce their grandchildren to some of the skills and passions that they have acquired during their life – which can translate into good life skills for them too, later in life. In the MetLife study, it was found that 33% of the grandparents surveyed cooked or baked with their grandchildren, 28% made crafts with them, 30% actively read with them and took them to the library, and 7% engaged with their grandchildren in volunteering within the community.

9) Grandparents Teach Kids Not to Sweat the Small Stuff
By a virtue of their age, most Grandparents have been around the block a few times and they are at a point in their lives where they can step back and realise that fretting over every little obstacle or missed opportunity doesn’t do anybody any good. When their grandchild is facing a tough loss or is devastated by not getting a scholarship or school place he or she wanted, grandparents can let them know that everything will work out in the end.

Grandparents can reassure their grandchildren that there is nothing that they won’t bounce back from – and they have the real life stories to prove it. In a 2000 study of Iowa families it was found that children who reported a close relationship with a grandparent perceived themselves to be more competent academically, personally, and socially and that they seemed more self-confident and mature than those who did not report a close relationship with a grandparent.

10) Kids with Grandparents who take an active role lead happier lives
And finally, a study carried out by Oxford University, in collaboration with the Institute of Education, London concluded that children in families where the grandparents were active, were far more likely to lead happier lives overall. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the grandparents’ involvement is the sole contributory factor but there was a definite correlation. Similar research amongst Bangladeshi and Anglo-speaking families in East London also identified that grandparents play a particular role in their children’s learning that can contribute to higher achievement at school – and which needs to be recognised and built on by schools.