Email: info@fksg.org

Living with Grandparents

Grandparents are the parents of your mum and of your dad, so that means you may have two grandmothers and two grandfathers and if you are lucky you get to see them fairly often.

Even if you do not see them very often you know that there are people other than your parents who love and care for you. In many cultures grandparents, parents and kids all live and work together for the benefit of the whole family.

There are many reasons why some kids live with grandparents, like:

• Mum and dad may have split up and one of them has gone back to their parent’s home with the children.
• There may be financial reasons like losing jobs or a home.
• A parent may have died and the other parent has moved back with their mum and dad for the support they need for themselves and children.
• Maybe parents have to move overseas for a while and do not want to interrupt the children’s education.
• Maybe a parent is too sick to look after children.

Maybe you have a grandparent living in your house? There can be many reasons for this, maybe:

• One grandparent died and the other one was too lonely.
• Your grandparent has been sick and needs to be looked after for a while.
• Your grandparent has moved in to help out your family.
• Your grandparent has come from overseas to live with you.
• Your grandparent has always lived with you.

Having a grandparent living in your house can be a bit difficult for your parents and your grandparents at times, sharing a bathroom and a kitchen with other adults is never very easy.

Maybe your grandparent will have his or her own room, tv, and enough space for some personal things or maybe only room for a few most precious things. Your grandparent may be living in ‘your’ house but you need to learn to ask their permission to go into their space or use their things.

If you live with a grandparent try to remember that as people get older they may find it a bit harder to keep up with kids or even find that kids can be too noisy at times. It may take a while to learn to live all together but there are lots of advantages, so you:

• May have access to more time and attention from adults, especially if one of them is at home or retired from work.
• May have someone else to help you with reading, finding resources for projects and so on.
• May have someone else to talk to about your worries.
• May be able to learn a new skill, like playing the piano, guitar, card games, fishing, golf and so on.
• May have someone else to show your work to, play games with, test your spelling, learn for tests.
• May have someone who can tell you ‘family’ stories’.
• Can listen to music you may not otherwise hear.
• Can learn history from someone who has lived through many changes in their lives.