Grandparents Raising Grandchildren:
A Second Tour of Duty
By Carol Hutcheson
You thought when you raised your own children and sent them on their way, that your duties of parenting were completed. Right? Wrong…at least for some 1.5 million grandparents who have found themselves once again, the primary caregiver of kids.
One in ten grandparents have cared for grandchildren for an extended time.
According to the National Center on Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, http://chhs.gsu.edu/nationalcenter/ more than one in ten grandparents has cared for a grandchild for at least six months and most of these grandchildren are less than six years old.
How Many children are living with grandparents?
Consider these statistics reported by the National Center on Grandparents Raising Grandchildren:
According to the 2002 US Census Bureau, of the 5,771,671 grandparents reported living in households with one or more own grandchildren under 18 years, 2,426,730 of these grandparents are responsible for the children, an alarming 42%.
Support for grandparents is critical
If you are one of these grandparents on your second tour of duty, you might appreciate receiving ideas to help you accomplish your difficult task, including taking care of your own health and finances as well as the needs of the grandkids. <<
Carol Hutcheson is a retired high school English teacher. She claims her greatest accomplishment lies in rearing six successful children and being grandma to eighteen grandchildren. Her partner in that enterprise is her husband, Don, to whom she has been married forty-two years. She can be reached at Carol@LetLifeIn.com
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