The importance of spending time with your grandparents

*This is a collaborative post.

Getting older is something that happens to us all and your turn will come around before you know it. But it doesn’t have to be a scary or difficult time. It can be the best time of our lives. Post-retirement is also the perfect time for grandparents to spend quality time with their grandchildren and creating a lasting emotional bond that will help the former feel younger and the latter to grow into a well-rounded individual.

It’s been proven that having a solid relationship with their grandparents is important for the psychological development of your kids. So, spending time with your grandparents is not only important for them, but for your kids too. Here, we’ll underline a few more reasons why.

Emotional intelligence – Parents are more likely to be overworked today than ever before and this means less time to spend with their kids. This is where the grandparents can step in and lift a little of the burden. As a result, research has revealed that children who spend more time with their grandparents are less likely to suffer from emotional or behavioural problems in later life.

Socialisation – Particularly for younger kids, it’s important to learn how to socialise so they can understand how to be empathetic and productive members of society. Interaction with their grandparents gives them access to someone besides their parents and their friends that can help them to develop their social skills.

Skills – There are skills grandparents will have acquired throughout their long lives that can be happily imparted to the younger generation. From practical skills to those that are more esoteric, there  is no shortage of the skills grandparents might be able to teach your kids, particularly during the summer holidays when they have nothing but free time.

Family history – Besides being loving members of the family, grandparents are also the keepers of your family heritage. There might be books knocking about and stories being passed down, but there is nothing like being shown those books or told those stories by the people who were actually there. Those precious memories are far more likely to be kept alive for generations to come if they are told face-to-face. There are also stories they can tell the kids about their parents that you would  never tell them  in a million years.

The fountain of youth – Nothing makes a grandparent feel younger and more full of life than spending time with their grandchildren. It’s been proven that spending time with grandkids can dramatically help improve the quality of life of an elderly person.

Your grandparents shouldn’t exist just as babysitters and relatives we see at Christmas – they should be a vital part of the upbringing of your children. Keep them happy and mobile with the latest Mobility Solutions and remember to always make sure they are invited on family trips and kept in the loop on all familial decisions. Because there is truly no love like the unconditional love of a grandparent.