Grandparents: an underestimated resource for children's health development

Grandparents often play an important role in family life, yet this is overlooked by both policy makers and professionals. Changing demographics, including an ageing population and more mothers in employment, mean that the grandparents' role as informal providers of child care is becoming increasingly important. Grandparents often have a unique relationship with teenagers and may act as confidants on issues the teenagers feel unable to talk about with their parents. Households headed by grandparents who have taken on the full-time role of caring for a grandchild because the parent is unable to fulfil it are a particularly disadvantaged group, and need greater support from services. In his 2009 annual report the Chief Medical Officer stated that grandparents are a major potentia asset for children's health and development, laying the foundations for a healthy future.