Effects of Grandparents Raising a Child
According to the U.S. census statistics, the number of children raised by their grandparents has increased rapidly over the years. For instance, at least 1.7 million children are brought up by their grandparents without the presence of their natural parents. The rapid change in parenting is caused by child neglection, abandonment, physical abuse, divorce or death leading to the shift of child’s custodial care by the child welfare agency. Children under their grandparent’s custody feel more love and affection; however, their grandparents lack knowledge about their well-being. Furthermore, the well-being of a child’s development is dependent on psychological, behavioral, emotional, and physical aspects. Such parenting has been associated with poor child’s behavior, academic performance, mental and social-emotional well-being.
Statistics have proven that approximately 15% of children below 17 years exhibit high-level behavioral problems. Edwards (2018) suggest that such problems have resulted in suspension or expulsion from schools due to their excessive aggravation. According to Choi & Eslinger (2016), some custodial grandparents may lack knowledge on school violence, STDs, drug use, and peer pressure, therefore, due to lack of these behavioral influencers they may find it difficult to control the behaviors of their grandchildren. Also, due to the intense love for their grandchildren, grandparents find it hard to punish them leading to a decline in the child’s behavioral discipline.
Consequently, poor psychological and socio-emotional development is one of the main effects of grandparents’ parenting. Some of the grandparents have mental health, physical, and financial problems which cause stress to them. Therefore, more time is focused on their problems instead of focusing on the psychological and socio-emotional development of the child. Sometimes the love and affection from the grandparents are usually not enough to suppress the negative experiences the child had in the past (Choi & Eslinger, 2016). Pursuing this further, abandoned child suffer from a feeling of anger, loss, rejection, depression, and aggression. Studies also suggest that many of the children under their grandparents’ custody have been to health facilities seeking clinical treatment for poor concentration, mood swings, aggressive behaviors, and high temper.
Academic performance goes hand in hand with social, psychological, emotional, and mental aspects. Research shows that children who are brought up by their parents perform better compared to the children brought up by their grandparents, for instance, more children under their grandparents’ custody have repeated grades and exhibited poor grades compared to the other group of children (Edwards, 2018). Causes of the poor performance include not only the poor behavioral aspects leading to their suspension or expulsion from schools, lack of educational support but also the unstable psychological condition of the children. Besides that, some grandparents are unable to help the children with their homework.
In conclusion, some grandparents lack the knowledge on how to boost the child’s academic potential and performance due to the change in educational status. Not only do these children require love and affection from their grandparents but also psychological and emotional support. Further assistance can be sought from psychologists, school counselors and other professionals so that the children can boost their sense of belonging. Besides that, hiring of tutors can help the grandparents to solve their grandchildren’s academic problems if they are unable to.