Geraldine BedellThe empty-nest years are turning out to be full-nest years. Forget the cruises and the backpacking in India: the costs of childcare mean that one in three working families now relies on grandparents to help looking after the grandchildren. Not only are grandparents helping their children function economically; they also often bear the burden of caring for elderly relatives. Meanwhile, we are all being told we need to work longer.
This is quite a lot of things to be falling on grandparents’ shoulders, so perhaps it’s not surprising that since Gransnet started as a social networking site for grandparents two years ago, one of the most persistent discussions has been ‘how are we supposed to do so much?’
