Busy schedules are all too familiar for working mums. The 9-5 week and looking after the kids, for many, can be exhausting and difficult to balance.
Parenting on Female First
That's why many parents are relying on grandparents to look after the little ones during working hours.
Mums and Dads across the UK have admitted that they wouldn't be able to go to work without their parents providing childcare for them.
One in four grandparents are looking after the grand kids to help out whilst the parents are at work. With one in 10 of those aged over 76 years old still looking after their grandchildren on a daily basis.
Demonstrating the importance of the role of the silver saviours, over a third of children across the UK say that they spend more time with their grandparents than their mum and dad, a study by flower and gifting icon, Interflora revealed.
As a sign of the changing times, when asked if they remember relying on their parents as much, 54% said no, however, grandparents appear more than happy to do the job in the face of busier working lifestyles and increasingly unaffordable childcare costs.
Commenting on the findings, Christine Webber, psychotherapist with a practice in Harley Street, said: "The bond between children and grandparents is a very special one. We can probably all remember, with gratitude, things we did or learned with a grandparent. Indeed, the close and heart-warming relationship we have with grandparents can influence how we deal with problems or other people in later life.
"Many of my patients talk of grandparents as having provided a loving - and sometimes missing - link of support in their families. Children respond well to a grandparent's experience and wisdom, and also to the way older relatives tend to be less tense and worried about things than parents seem to be."
"The value of grandparent-grandchild contact is huge to both parties. And in these very changing times, it is a crucial part of family life. Grandparents can be of particular help if parents encounter difficulties in their relationships. The continuity of care and love that gran or granddad can offer to children, helps many a family through an emotional crisis."
Proving the grandparent-grandchild bond further, nearly three quarters of grandparents say they wished they saw their grandchildren even more than they do already, a statistic which is replicated by the younger generation whereby three quarters of those aged 6 - 16 wished they saw their grandparents more often.
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