Childhood Parenting by Grandparents in a Skipped–Generation Family

Abstract

         This article aimed to present the perspectives of the childhood parenting by grandparents in a skipped–generationfamily including the impacts on children and grandparents.The skipped–generation family means a family in which the grandparents live together with their grandchildren without the parents. In Thailand, the trend of skipped–generation family is increasing. The review literature showed that childhood parenting by grandparents in the skipped–generation family was a family support so that it could do duty for child development to be a qualified adult in the future society including in physical, mental, emotion, social and intellectual aspects and other necessity. The childhood parenting in the skipped–generation family had following impacts; grandparents felt self–worth and they were happy in taking care of their grandchildren. The grandchildren supported their grandparents when they grow up in that they were able to help, according to age, both themselves and their grandparents in the physical support, good health or illness, and mental support, creating their heartwarming, loneliness relieving and attached feeling to the grandchildren. However, the limitations of childhood parenting by grandparents were the lacking of knowing about change era due to spending most of the time on looking after the children’s daily activities, earning money to support the family as well as their degeneration and illness. As a result, they used their prior knowledge and experience for parenting. The grandparents who were not very well educated or illiteracy could not learn more things. These might affect the promotion of childhood development and learning.
           Keywords: Parenting, Childhood, Grandparents, Skipped–generation family