Each year on the Sunday after Labor Day, we celebrate Grandparents Day, this year honoring the 70 million (yes, 70 million!) American grandparents for the contributions that they make to our families and to society in general. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter – himself a grandfather extraordinaire with 22 grandchildren and great-grandchildren – created the observance in 1978 when he signed the National Grandparents Day Proclamation. In that document, Carter wrote, “The elders of each family have the responsibility for setting the moral tone for the family and for passing on the traditional values of our nation to their children and grandchildren.”
While it is no doubt still important for grandparents to pass along values and societal norms to younger generations, times have changed since the first celebration of Grandparents Day. Any proclamation set forth today about the contribution of grandparents would need to mention the essential tasks they perform or the situations they confront, not traditionally performed by grandparents of prior generations.
Consider these facts, based primarily on an AARP poll conducted in 2019:
- Collectively, grandparents spend more than $179 billion a year on grandchildren. Some of it goes to travel and gifts, but much goes to day-to-day costs and education expenses.
- Unlike earlier generations of elders, 40 percent of grandparents work, making them a “significant market force.”
- One in 10 grandparents live in the same household as their grandchildren and provide childcare.
- Five percent of grandparents provide their grandchildren’s primary care, becoming “parents the second time around” to these more than 7 million children. This can be due to the death of a parent, addiction issues, homelessness, domestic violence – any of the societal challenges that can make it difficult to maintain the family structure.
- Because of divorce and remarriage, many children have 6 to 8 adults in the “grandparent” role in their lives. Almost 1 in 4 grandparents will be step-grandparents either through their own or through their adult children’s divorce and remarriage.
The very good news is that the majority of grandparents enjoy their time with their grandchildren, reveling in the privilege of being part of their lives without the responsibilities that go with full-time parenting. Perhaps predictably, grandparents as a group believe their parenting skills are better than those of today’s parents – their children. I ran this finding by a friend who has five grandchildren. Her response? “I may feel that way, but I’ve learned to keep my opinions to myself if I want to keep the peace among generations.”
In closing his proclamation creating Grandparents Day, President Carter urged that “…officials of government at the national, state, and local levels, and of voluntary organizations…plan appropriate activities so that the contributions that our grandparents have made may be appropriately recognized.”
That activity continues to this day, and a myriad of organizations – state, local, voluntary, and even commercial – are saluting grandparents and their contributions this month. The Alliance for Aging Research is among them. Beyond that, I am proud to say as a Board Member, the Alliance is focusing every day on improving the experience of aging and good health, and that is a very important full-time contribution to the lives of grandparents and their grandchildren that they care for.
