A conflict that most parents face is the way they will raise their children. They want to ingrave in their children the principles that will make them good-hearted people as they grow up. In todays day, there is more mobility available which can lead to more visits between families. Grandparents are able to see their grandchildren more. It also means that families are more spread out leading to more difficulty in seeing grandchildren. In the article "Grandparents today" the author conveys that being a grandparent comes with the thought of old age which is not a positive one in our "youth obsessed" world. Although grandparenting is attatched to the word old, it is not about age but rather generations. Being a grandparent is giving people a second chance to parent. It allows grandparents to fix mistakes they felt they made and teach lessons and values without the stress that comes with parenting.
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Grand parents can also be a very big help towards parents especially new parents. It has been found that they are actually fundamental in some areas of the grandchildren's lives. Specifically in helping them form thier own identities and teaching them values as well as beliefs. Identity is a difficult thing for children to understand and create. Grandparents have an immense impact on grandchildren when it comes to finding their identities. A child without relationships with family members in other generations may lack a sense of culture or even self. This lack of relationships sometimes yields children that are less developed in the area of identity and do not have as good of a grasp of where they came from. Grandparents also can act as the historian of the family, informing the rest of the family about their experiences and the family lineage.
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With society becoming slightly negative, grandchildren need a positive role model in their lives. Children are constantly trying to find someone to emulate and creating a strong relationship with a grandparent can cause them to become that role model. Studies have shown the effectiveness of strengthening the relationships between family members in different generations.
Above is a video I found on youtube of author and entrepreneur Nina Godiwalla speaking about her reasons for moving closer to her parents in order to raise her kids in a good environment near their grandparents.
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