Nov14

The Role of Grandparents in Their Grandchildren’s Education

Sharing Experiences

In almost all cultures, grandparents are the transmitters of experience and wisdom through oral tradition and affection. They unify the family environment and are spokespersons for the family’s heritage, as well as the cultural and traditional aspects of their ancestors. They are very important figures within a child’s environment, providing them with security and values that can influence their character, profession or beliefs, and be role models for them in the future.

Role Change: Co-educators to Our Children

Nowadays, their role is changing quite a bit and despite the fact that they may be healthier and more active, the generational gap between grandparents and grandchildren is still very apparent. Being a grandparent to children with video consoles, cell phones, and social media must not be easy if they become co-educators to our children.

The change in family dynamics, as well as the pace of life and lack of parent’s time, make their participation in education bigger than what they should have as simply affectionate and caring grandparents. They sometimes have difficulty carrying the weight of education, which puts them in a situation where rivalries may surface with the parent’s educational styles.

Tips to Consider When Asking Grandparents for Help

Don’t be too picky, or expect perfection from them. They are helping you the best way they know.
Grandparents are going to let them do different things than what they are accustomed to with you. Children know what they can and cannot do at each place. Limits and rules are going to be different even when compared to those you had when you were small.
Be flexible with your standards, they have other things to do besides caring for grandchildren.
Avoid competing for what is right or not. Agree on some limits because, generally, they spend more quality time with their grandchildren.
Avoid giving them a long list of instructions. Grandparents have a lot of resources and they need us to trust them.

Grandparents can give love and value to memories, confidence, and a safe environment.

At Smartick we support the work grandparents do and we give our best effort to let them share in the fun with games in the Virtual World and interactive tutorials from different lessons.

Learn More:

Fun is our brain’s favorite way of learning

Diane Ackerman

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Author
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Casey Aubin

BS Communicative Disorders & BA Spanish from the University of Rhode Island.
Master’s in International Education from the Universidad de Alcalá– Instituto Franklin.
She has worked as a teacher in three different countries and is now a Translator on the Content Creation Team at Smartick and helps to adapt content for blog posts.
As a native Rhode Islander she loves any activity on the water and when she’s not working you can find her traveling, kickboxing, or trying out a new recipe.