Grandparent
Grandparents, individually known as grandmother and grandfather, or Grandma and Grandpa, are the parents of a person's father or mother – paternal or maternal. Every sexually reproducing living organism who is not a genetic chimera has a maximum of four genetic grandparents, eight genetic great-grandparents, sixteen genetic great-great-grandparents, thirty-two genetic great-great-great-grandparents, sixty-four genetic great-great-great-great-grandparents, etc. In the history of modern humanity, around 30,000 years ago, the number of modern humans who lived to be a grandparent increased. It is not known for certain what spurred this increase in longevity, but it is generally believed that a key consequence of three generations being alive together was the preservation of information which could otherwise have been lost; an example of this important information might have been where to find water in times of drought.
In cases where parents are unwilling or unable to provide adequate care for their children, grandparents often take on the role of primary caregivers. Even when this is not the case, and particularly in traditional cultures, grandparents often have a direct and clear role in relation to the raising, care and nurture of children. Grandparents are second-degree relatives to their grandchildren and share 25% genetic overlap.
A step-grandparent can be the step-parent of the parent or the step-parent's parent or the step-parent's step-parent. The various words for grandparents at times may also be used to refer to any elderly person, especially the terms gramps, granny, grandfather, granddad, grandmother, nan, maw-maw, paw-paw.
Titles
When used as a noun, grandfather and grandmother are usually used, although forms such as grandma/grandpa, granny/granddaddy or even nan/pop are sometimes used. When preceded by "my...", all forms are common. All forms can be used in plural, but Gramps is rare.In writing, Grandfather and Grandmother are most common, but very rare as a form of address. In speech, Grandpa and Grandma are commonly used in the United States, Canada, and Australia. In Britain, Ireland, United States, Australia, New Zealand and, particularly prevalent in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador and English-speaking Quebecers, Nan, Nana, Nanna, Nanny, Gran and Granny and other variations are often used for grandmother in both writing and speech.
In Bangladesh, Pakistan, and many parts of India, maternal grandparents are called Nana and Nani. Similarly, paternal grandparents are called Dada and Dadi. One's parents' maternal grandparents are called Par-nani and Par-nana. On similar lines, parents' paternal grandparents are called Par-dadi and Par-dada.
Numerous other variants exist, such as Granny, for grandmother. Gogo may be used for either.
Given that people may have two living sets of grandparents, some confusion arises from calling two people "grandma" or "grandpa", so often two of the other terms listed above are used for one set of grandparents. Another common solution is to call grandparents by their first names or by their family names. In North America, many families call one set of grandparents by their ethnic names. In Friesland, a common pair is pake and beppe. Northern Chinese people often use laolao and laoye, while Mandarin-speaking Southerners often use wài pó and wài gōng, to refer to maternal grandparents; paternal grandparents usually are called nǎi nai and yé yé. In the Philippines, grandparents are called lolo and lola.
Languages and cultures with more specific kinship terminology than English may distinguish between paternal grandparents and maternal grandparents. For example, in the Swedish language there is no single word for "grandmother"; the mother's mother is termed mormor and the father's mother is termed farmor. However, the other Scandinavian languages, Danish and Norwegian, use words which specify the kinship like in Swedish, as well as using common terms similar to grandmother.
Great-grandparents and beyond
The parents of a grandparent, or the grandparents of a parent, are called the same names as grandparents with the prefix great- added, with an additional great- added for each additional generation. One's great-grandparent's parents would be "great-great-grandparents".To avoid a proliferation of "greats" when discussing genealogical trees, one may also use ordinals instead of multiple "greats"; thus a "great-great-grandfather" would be the "second great-grandfather", and a "great-great-great-grandfather" would be a third great-grandfather, and so on. One may also use cardinal numbers for numbering greats, for example, great-great-great-grandmother becomes 3×-great-grandmother.
Individuals who share the same great-grandparents but are not siblings or first cousins are "second cousins" to each other, as second cousins have grandparents who are siblings. Similarly, "third cousins" would have great-grandparents who are siblings, and "fourth cousins" would have great-great-grandparents who are siblings.
Etymology
The use of the prefix "grand-" dates from the early 13th century, from the Anglo-French graund. The term was used as a translation of Latin magnus. The prefix represents a direct translation of Anglo-French graund and Latin magnus to English. In Old English, the prefixes ealde- and ieldra- were used. A great-grandfather was called a þridda fæder, a great-great-grandfather a fēowerða fæder, etc.Variation
- maternal grandmother- mother's mother.
- maternal grandfather- mother's father.
- paternal grandmother- father's mother.
- paternal grandfather- father's father.
Involvement in childcare
There are a few reasons why grandparent involvement is becoming more prevalent. First, life expectancy has increased while fertility rates have decreased. This means that more children are growing up while their grandparents are still alive and able to become involved in childcare. In addition, the reduced fertility rates mean that grandparents can devote more attention and resources to their only grandchildren. Second, more mothers are involved in the workforce, and thus, other caregivers need to be present to care for the child. For instance, in Hong Kong, 55% of grandparents reported that they took care of their grandchild because his or her parents have to work. In South Korea, 53% of working mother reported that they once received child care services from their parents. Third, the increasing number of single-parent families creates a need for grandparental support.
The degree of grandparent involvement also varies depending on the societal context, such as the social welfare policies. For example, in European countries such as Sweden and Denmark, where formal childcare is widely available, grandparents provide less intensive childcare. By contrast, in European countries such as Spain and Italy, where formal childcare is limited, and welfare payment is low, grandparents provide more intensive childcare. In Singapore, the grandparent caregiver tax relief was established in 2004, which enables working parents whose children are being cared for by unemployed grandparents to receive income tax relief of 3,000 Singaporean dollars.
Types
There are different types of grandparental involvement, including nonresident grandparents, co-resident grandparents, grandparent-maintained household, and custodial grandparents.- Nonresident grandparents: Grandparents who do not live with their grandchildren, but provide care for them, such as picking them up from school.
- Co-resident grandparents: Grandparents who live with their grandchild, as well as their parents. This type of household is also known as three-generational households. According to a report that uses data from the 2010 Census, the American Community Survey, the Current Population Survey, and the Survey of Income and Program Participation, co-resident grandparents are more likely to be in poverty and suffer from an illness or disability.
- Grandparent-maintained households: A grandparent who is in charge of the household. In this type of household, the parents may or may not be present. In the US, 33% of children who live in a grandparent-maintained household have only the grandparents present; this is comparable to another 30% who live with a grandmother and one or more parents.
- Custodial grandparents: Grandparents who raise their grandchildren without the presence of the grandchildren's parents in the household. This type of involvement is especially common among ethnic minority groups; approximately 50% of custodial grandparents in the USA belong to an ethnic minority group. In general, grandparents adopt the primary caregiving role for various reasons, such as when the parents have died, been imprisoned, been deployed by the military, or lost custody of their children due to neglect or abuse.