Parenting for the Second Time

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Parenting can be a challenge the first time around, but many parents are finding themselves parenting for a second time, this time around, as the child’s grandparents. Grandparents may assume the role of parent for their child’s children when there are problems of substance abuse, abuse and neglect, incarceration, HIV/AIDS, mental illness, divorce, and death. (Dolbin-MacNab, 2006, p.1) Grandparents usually are not expecting to have to parent again, this is the time most are enjoying their new found freedom. They expect to have a freedom to choose what they want to do, come and go as they please without the responsibility of another human being. Due to the many years they have not been parents, many grandparent will need to be educated on the recent changes to being parents. Some of the areas may include: child development, newly discovered childhood disorders such as ADHD or ADD, depression, and conduct disorders. (Dolbin-MacNab, 2006, p.2) In many instances the grandparents will shape their parenting of their grandchildren by how they raised their own children and where they are now socioeconomically. (Dolbin-MacNab, 2006, p.3) Many of the grandparents interviewed for this study described the feeling of “personal satisfaction” as they tried to do things differently with the raising of their grandchildren than they did with their own children.
For this study, fifty-two grandparents and their grandchildren were recruited to participate. Of the fifty-two, forty-one also consented to an interview. (Dolbin-MacNab, 2006, p.3) The criteria to participate in the study was: “grandparents had to meet the United States Census Bureau (2002) definition of a grandparent caregiver, grandparents were required to have a legal relationship to th...

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... Learning Theory, the adolescent may only be acting out what they have learned from their environment. The social worker will need to determine the cause of the feelings and actions and work with the adolescent to change not only the behavior but their cognitive thinking as well.

Works Cited

Ashford, J., & Lecroy, C. (2013). Human behavior in the social environment. (Fifth ed.). Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole. (p. 99, 596-597)
Cooley, S., Deitch, I., Harper, M., Hinrichsen, G., Lopez, M., & Molinari, V. (1998). What practioners should know about working with older adults. American Psychological Association, Retrieved from http://www.nova.edu/gec/forms/practitioners_older_adults.pdf
Dolbin-MacNab, M. L. (2006). Just Like Raising Your Own? Grandmothers’ Perceptions of Parenting a Second Time Around. Family Relations, 55(5), 564-575. doi:10.1111/j.1741-3729.2006.00426.x

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