An investigation carried out by FAD and Obra Social Caja Madrid entitled "Grandparents and grandmothers ... for everything" shows that grandparents have become the protective mattress of many social deficiencies and that their involvement in the care of grandchildren is what allows many families to maintain their standard of living.
According to IMSERSO data, more than 50% of grandparents take care of their grandchildren almost every day, and 45% almost every week.
And it's not just grandmothers. Grandparents begin to care for grandchildren more often than grandmothers, but grandmothers take care of them longer: 6.2 hours a day for women and 5.3 hours for men.
The grandparents' role is no longer to "spoil" the grandchildren but they have had to assume the responsibility of educating them, even in spite of confrontations with the children because they consider them too intrusive.
The situation leads many grandparents to feel overwhelmed by the care of the grandchildren who sometimes exceeds their physical and psychological abilities, what is known as the slave grandfather syndrome, and that leads us to think if the grandparents of our children should take care of .
Grandparents are aware of the complicated situation their children are living and want to lend a hand because they enjoy being with their grandchildren, but claim the need to impose clear limits on their obligations.
There is a contradiction of feelings. On the one hand, the satisfaction of caring for grandchildren and on the other the excessive responsibility that this entails.
According to the research findings,
The thin dividing line between both feelings is clearly marked by social class. In families where economic resources are scarce (and there is no possibility of hiring kangaroos or childcare) parents excessively delegate to grandparents who claim to feel "distressed" and "used." While in the more affluent families the complaint of the grandparents is frequent for not being able to see their grandchildren as much as they would like, in families with scarce resources it is the majority to feel that they are “slaves of their responsibilities” or that “they have the life mortgaged "
The grandfather-grandson relationship is very enriching for both of them, a link that they should enjoy without stress, although the current pace of life is doing everything possible because it is not.
