Topic 13: The impact of the ageing population on relationships between parents, grandparents and children

Question 1

Grandparents playing positive roles in the fam (sociologist name)

Answer 1

• Ross et al, interviews
  -go betweens (mediators) in the family when children
  fell out with their parents.
  -young people put particular emphasis on their listening skills and impartiality (neutrality).
  -grandparents spoke positively about being a grandparent and were happy to help with childcare, advice and support.

Question 2

Intergenerational relationships and beanpole families

Answer 2

tend to have more intergenerational relationships, such as with grandparents
and great-grandparents, who are more likely to be alive today because of longer life
expectancy.

Question 3

Grandparents and Childcare x3

Answer 3

1. A variety of care:
   -one in three families depend of grandparents forchildcare;
   Statham, grandparent care can
   take many forms, from occasional babysitting through regular help with childcare, to being
   the sole or main provider of childcare while parents work
2. Money saving:
   HSBC report (2007) if they did not use grandparents at a staggering £50 billion. Grandparents also make a large financial contribution to families, including helping
   grandchildren to get on the property ladder, setting up child trust funds ect
3. Flexibility:
   According to Grandparentsplus
   They are often asked to fill the gaps between formal childcare and parental
   care. They will also care for a child who is sick when a nursery would refuse to have them.

Question 4

The Sandwich generation

Answer 4

grundy and henrietta

Question 5

Deborah Chambers : Feminist issues with grandparenting

Answer 5

-Gendered? with grandmothers generally playing a larger role than grandfathers
-it is a disproportionate burden on grandmothers,
-After divorce?. As most children tend to live with mothers after a family break-up, it is usually paternal grandparents who are most affected by this.

Question 6

June Andrews: Women’s financial risk

Answer 6

-Across the globe, about two thirds of informal care for frail older people falls to female relatives.
-Andrews argues that in patriarchal societies, caring work is of lower status than work outside the home and is allocated to women. In cultures with established social and
legal gender equality, it still makes economic sense in any family for a lower paid person,\which is more usually a female, to give up work to do any unpaid caring.