A few days ago we saw that more than half of the grandparents take care of their grandchildren practically every day, which in many of them caused feelings of anguish and overwhelm. Grandparents also feel used when considering that their children delegate in excess the education and care of their children.
That is, what should be a "help" becomes a total responsibility. What has caught my attention most in the report that offers these data (prepared by the Caja Madrid Drug Addiction and Social Work Aid Foundation) is that in many cases that perception of anguish is related to social class: to less economic resources, less possibility of external help (hire kangaroos, nurseries ...) and, therefore, greater dependence on grandparents.
Spanish grandfathers and grandmothers have become the "substitutes" for many social deficiencies, especially for lower-middle-class families who do not have access to support resources for the care of the little ones and in which both parents They need to work.
This means that, given the circumstances of the family, the salaries of father and mother are needed to survive (even, I imagine, in many cases to help precisely the grandparents financially), with which the option to request a leave or leave of working to take care of children personally cannot be contemplated.
In the case of one of the two parents without work, it is assumed that this will be the one who takes care of the children. But if the two work, the grandparents become responsible for the children.
The most extreme situation is found in the families forced to leave home and return to grandparents' house, way back that takes place after some situations of prolonged unemployment and / or divorces or separations. Faced with these complicated situations, what grandfather or grandmother would not offer his help to the children, taking care of their grandchildren what is needed and even financially helping the children if they need it and is within their means.
What other option do families have without resources?
Let's get in the situation of families with few resources that need to work. Entering a public nursery is not always easy, nor free. Shouldn't it be possible for these families to access the Infant Education places for their children, have financial aid to avoid having to leave their jobs or burden grandparents with such responsibility?
Would longer maternal casualties eliminate this problem altogether? Who would benefit the most from creating more kindergarten places? Or would it be better for children to be with grandparents, feel how they feel, whether or not there are childcare places available?
It is clear that creating more public places in Early Childhood Education is not the panacea that solves all the evils and deficiencies in our society with regard to childcare and work and family conciliation. But if in any situation I believe that the possibility should be seriously contemplated, it is in the case of these families without resources.
The risks and benefits of going to daycare are not the same for all children, and we already saw that the best is for the children of certain families in disadvantaged situations. The AEP notes that daycare may be the best option for many families (because there are no alternative care systems). Are grandparents an "alternative care system" acceptable? Apparently, not always, either for the sake of children, or for the sake of grandparents. We will return on this subject.
In short, the report “Grandparents and grandmothers ... for everything. Perceptions about the education and care of grandchildren ”offers us many interesting topics to reflect, to see other realities that are not idyllic from many points of view.
