What Is The Joy Of Being A Grandmother?

Pat, a 64 year old, white, married, middle class women with six daughters and one son and 35 grandchildren, works full time as a commercial processor for an insurance company. Having to balance work and caring for her grandchildren, Pat is similar to the 48 working grandmothers who were interviewed in Madonna Harrington Meyer’s book Grandmothers at work.Grandmothers at work outlines the joys as well as challenges of being a grandmother. Three important joys that come with being a grandmother are positive health impacts, second chance at mothering and spoiling a child. Contrary to the joys of being a working grandmother, three important challenges are setting limits, financial support, and enabling. One of the joys of being a grandmother is getting a second chance of raising a child with less responsibilities and more time (MHM p,3). Most grandmothers in the book enjoy their time with their grandchildren because it allows them to make up for time lost

Being a parent you have many roles such as cooking, cleaning, providing clothes, loving your child and maybe spoiling them sometimes. As a grandparent most of those responsibilities are gone and you are allowed to have fun. Cally, a grandmother from the book, loves taking her grandson to do many activities throughout the day and never feels like she has to be a mother, only a fun grandmother (MHM p,43). In the interview Pat had said “ I like being able to go to the mall and buy them ice cream without having to worry about their dinner.” The ability to break the rules and spoil the grandchildren bring joy to the grandparents because the kids are happy. Grandmothers receive joy from this because as a mother you worry about healthy food or getting the dishes done but as a grandmother you have more time and can wait a day to do those things (MHM p,