• 29
  • August
    2011

Grandparents today are less likely to take up tomato gardening and quilting and more likely to take a far more active role in the lives of their children and grandchildren, according to new statistics and demographic information. In Denver and all across the country, grandparents are increasingly involved in their offspring's lives in ways as small as running errands for overbooked parents and as large as obtaining child custody and assuming primary parenting responsibilities.

Grandparents today are mostly Baby Boomers and average around 65 years old, so they have plenty of vitality and energy. They are usually still working in some capacity and have had time to accumulate more assets than their children. Combine those factors with the extra time they have from what otherwise would be empty nests and you can see why grandparents are willing and able to help out their children.

Of course, grandparents have long done things like babysit and provide occasional financial help, but what is new is how many grandchildren have taken over parenting duties entirely and are now raising their grandchildren on their own. In some cases, this is due to absenteeism on the part of the parent, but in far more cases, it is just a reflection of how our families are changing. Today, about 5.8 million children are living with grandparents who are categorized as the head of the household. That is about 8 percent of all children. In 2000, those figures stood at 4.5 million, which was 6.3 percent of children.

A living arrangement in which a grandparent assumes the role of parent may present a few unique complications. If you are a grandparent who has taken over the duties of raising your grandchild, you may want to speak to a family law attorney. This lawyer will be able to point out issues you might face, since you are not the biological parent, and help you work through or prepare for them.

Source: The Associated Press, "Grandparents play a bigger role in child-rearing," Hope Yen, Aug. 26, 2011.