The role of 'grannies' is to help look after their own children's offspring
... or so this Finnish research would have us believe. If this is true it seems to me to beg at least as many questions as it answers, specially in the context of westen[ised] soceities today where grandparents are less willing to act as unpaid carers, having in many cases the wherewithal to 'party' long after their own parenting days are over.
It strikes me that this has echoes in the debate about inheritance and care costs for the elderly which rages in the UK - often the loudest critics of requiring the elderly to [help] pay for their own care are their children, who hope to inherit the family home when the parents finally 'kick the bucket', or sooner if they can get them into a care home first (which someone else will have to pay for). Relatively few nowadays are prepared to have their parents live with them in their declining years, although this would obviously make looking after grandchildren easier for the physically-fit elderly. Just a few cynical thoughts .....
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