What Good Is Grandma ? - Issue 36 : Aging
▻http://nautil.us/issue/36/aging/what-good-is-grandma
Grandparents are busy these days. The number of juveniles in the United States under 18 living in a grandparent’s household rose from 4.6 million in 2005-07 to 5.2 million in 2008-10, probably because of economic stress associated with the Great Recession.1 Thirteen percent of grandparents provide regular care for at least one grandchild, and 62 percent have provided financial support of some kind to their grandchildren within the past five years.2 These circumstances can be stressful for youngsters, their parents, and their grandparents. But there is another way of looking at it: Today’s grandparents are doing exactly what their biology has prepared them for. FIRST FAMILY : Marian Robinson (center), Michelle Obama’s mother, is a live-in grandmother to Malia (far left) and Sasha (second (...)