Raising grandkids can feel like the second time around

The responsiblities of serving as a parent can compete with the joys of being a grandparent.

  • Homage Senior Services
  • Wednesday, September 20, 2017 1:30am
  • Life

Homage Senior Services

A Kinship Caregiver is a non-parental relative providing around-the-clock care for a relative child residing in their home — most often they are grandparents raising their grandchildren.

The Relatives As Parents Program at Homage Senior Services recognizes and honors the sacrifices many grandparents make and the important role they have in shaping the lives of the grandchildren in their full-time care.

We hope you had a happy Grandparents Day on Sept. 10 and found time to put on your “funny tennis shoes”!

When grandparents become parents again, everyone loses something. The children miss an important bond with the person who loves them just the way they are. They miss out on special memories with their grandparents.

Grandparents miss out on the chance to indulge and spoil the grandkids. You are supposed to get to take the children on special outings, buy them special treats and watch their sports events or performance in the school play. Some grandparents who are parenting a second time have found creative ways to be both parent and grandparent. The person above wears special shoes, another puts on a crazy hat.

These clothes are a signal to the children that, for today, I’m just grandma or grandpa. Today we’ll do things that grandparents and grandchildren do together — maybe go to the park, see a movie or eat a special treat. Then when the hat or shoes go back in the closet, the grandparent becomes the parent again.

Think about creative ways that you can be a grandparent for a day or even a few hours. Explain to the children why you have to be their parent most of the time.

But also give them some “grandparenting” time to look forward to. The “grandparent” time you spend with the children will be cherished for years.

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