Hotmail
More grandmothers raising another generation
 | Most viewed business videos |
 Branson's space venture Dec. 10: Morning Meeting’s Dylan Ratigan talks with entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson about his commercial space business. |
Indeed, Carolyn Threadgill’s daughter’s drug addiction compelled her to step in and take over the care of her two grandchildren, one in second grade, and the other in seventh.
Threadgill, the publisher for Parenting Press, a publisher of child guidance books, says, “I’ve had the older boy for eight years and the younger one for four years.”
Her employer, she says, is understanding when it comes to taking time off to deal with kid issues, but “most of my accrued vacation and sick leave time are used dealing with the kids’ needs every month.”
What about balance?
“What’s that?” she asks. “At this point, not much occurs that is for me alone, except my avid reading every night before bed and my morning newspaper.”
Taking on such a caregiver role could affect a grandparent’s health, both physically and mentally, according to Meredith Minkler, a professor at the School of Public Health at the University of California, Berkeley, who has studied the issue.
“For the grandparents, the ones that become full-time caregivers, often they will say, ‘I’m relieved I can do this, but I’m depressed, or ‘totally stressed,’ or ‘I had to give up a job,” she says. Many, she adds, had to cut their hours, or take a demotion to make the new role work.
Full-time caregiver grandparents, she adds, “are more likely to be overweight, to have functional limitations and more likely to be depressed. It’s not a good situation for them.”
While raising grandchildren can be challenge, some grandmothers have figured out how to make it work.
Eileen Marrison owns and operates Two Men and a Truck moving franchises in Nebraska and is also able to help her daughter and son-in-law with the care of their kids.
Two days a week, Marrison watches her 1-year old granddaughter Sydney for about eight hours during the day at the office. “Sydney and I play, we do puzzles and watch Baby Einstein movies,” she explains.
The high cost of day care was one of the top reasons the family decided on this arrangement, and it’s worked out well for all involved.
“It’s not easy,” admits Marrison, 60, who comes in at 7 a.m. and sometimes has to work until 10 p.m. to get everything done on the days Sydney is in her care. “I don’t mind staying late. It’s quiet and I can get a lot done.”
Also helping Marrison balance work and family is the fact that she’s her own boss and can adjust her schedule to fit in care of her grandkids.
Unfortunately, corporate America has not kept up with this trend of more grandparents caring for their grandkids, according to a Generations United survey that found most companies do not extend health benefits or child care benefits to their employees who are also caregivers of their children’s kids. Of those firms surveyed, only 25 percent offered child-related leave to workers who did not have legal custody of their grandchildren.
Generations United’s Lent is hopeful U.S. companies will become more understanding of this growing number of grandparent caregivers in the workforce.
“We can always be thinking about what we can do to be supportive of families,” she says. “A lot can be done in terms of offering flexibility in workplace.”
Lent offered two Web sites that are good resources for caregiver grandparents where you can find out about the laws in your state and also connect with support groups — www.grandfactsheets.org and www.grandfamilies.org.
Many grandparent advocates hope to see public policy changes under the new administration in the form of paid family leave and programs to help parents pay for the high-cost child care.
Maybe a grandmother in the White House will help things along.
- Discuss Story On Newsvine
-
Rate Story:
View popularLowHigh - Instant Message
MORE FROM CAREERS |
 Careers Section Front |
| Add Careers headlines to your news reader: |
Sponsored links
Resource guide