Being a grandparent, according to my dad, who has five young grandchildren, is life’s dessert.
The icing on the cake. The best bit about it all.
And watching the bond my children have with their grandparents, it is truly amazing.
Grandparents have time. And wisdom. They don’t stress or rush or have a short fuse or feel too deeply about avoiding sugar or getting to bed exactly on time. And their love is exactly what our children need, according to a new study.
In fact, here are three reasons why a close bond with grandparents is an amazing gift:
1. It provides a built-in support system
A study out of the University of Oxford found children who are close to their grandparents have fewer emotional and behavioural problems and are better able to cope with traumatic life events, like a divorce or bullying at school.
2. It increases kids’ resilience
Other research suggests that having an intergenerational identity, or an understanding of one’s family history and where they fit within it, can make kids more resilient and help them feel more in control of their lives, even when the world outside their family seems out of control.
As Bruce Feiler notes in his book, The Secrets of Happy Families: How to Improve Your Morning, Rethink Family Dinner, Fight Smart, Go Out and Play, and Much More, psychologists studying resilience in children after the September 11 terrorist attacks found those who knew a lot about their family history were better able to cope with stress.
3. It protects kids from depression as adults
A 2014 study out of Boston College linked close emotional relationships between grandparents and adult grandchildren to lower rates of depression—for both the elderly and their adult grandkids.
