Grandmothers’ Role in Child Care

Grandparents’ role is a key aspect in child nurturing in many cultures.  Working mothers prefer their mothers or mother- in -laws in looking after their children because they believe they have a soft corner for their grandchildren.

Some of the Asian communities, where the concept of baby sitting is missing, it become very difficult for working parents for their children’s wellbeing and better nurturing.  Therefore, parents find it a better option to keep the family connected by involving grandmothers in their children’s development.  Interestingly, it also empowers grandmothers to take responsibility in nurturing their grandchildren as well as demonstrate their maternal love.

Our experiences indicated that grandmothers enjoyed their involvement in their grandparents’ care.  One of the grandmothers shared her feelings this way. She said, “Its good to work with these kids because we learn English elephants, names of animals, vegetables and numbers (1, 2, 3, …..) etc. that we had never experiences in our life (grandmothers’ Interview in 2009)  

Keeping, this experience in view, it reflects that in extended families, grandmothers need to be involved so they can enjoy their learning and sharing their experiences with their grandchildren. This can make the learning enjoyable, valuable, productive and healthy for grandchildren children in their development.

For further research findings, please, read the following articles:

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181364/CWRC-00083-2011.pdf

http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/585680?uid=3739832&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21102309860497