Grandparents

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VOICE ONE:

Welcome to THIS IS AMERICA, in VOA Special English. I'm Phoebe
Zimmermann.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. This week -- meet the grandparents!

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VOICE ONE:

One day recently, a woman in Washington, D.C., spoke on the
telephone to her first and only grandchild. The boy lives in
California, on the opposite side of the United States. The
grandmother talked a long time. Later, a friend asked her what the
child had said.

The grandmother answered. He had not really said anything.
Mostly, he cried. He was, after all, two weeks old.

VOICE TWO:

A children's doctor from Chicago, Illinois, says becoming a
grandparent often makes normal adults act silly, even a little
crazy. He should know. He has ten grandchildren. But he says the
satisfaction of being around them never gets old. He says none of
his friends can escape without seeing pictures of his grandchildren.

American grandparents are surely
like any other grandparents. Millions of them love to play with
their grandchildren. They buy them gifts. They read to them and
prepare special foods. They take them places. They teach them skills
for later in life. And, in many cases, they try to make sure the
children learn family traditions.

Santa Fama is a retired teacher in Bethesda, Maryland. She likes
to cook Sicilian and other Italian food with her grandchildren.

Mary Horwitt of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, liked to play with her
grandson -- play music, that is. Missus Horwitt, who died several
years ago, was a pianist who performed concerts with her teen-age
grandson.

VOICE ONE:

Some grandparents are wealthy enough to pay for travel to faraway
places with their grandchildren. But others are happy to take their
grandchildren to local parks. Or they might watch them perform in
some event at school. That is, if they live close enough to attend.

Today, many Americans live far from their grandparents. School
mental health specialist Suzy Karpel says she regrets this fact of
modern life. She says she often sees situations in which families
need the advice and support of grandparents. Mizz Karpel says this
is true especially when problems develop. This is when parents might
wish most that they had a helpful grandparent nearby.

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VOICE TWO:

If you ask grandparents how it
feels to be a grandparent, most will immediately say "wonderful."
They like spending time with their grandchildren. But many will also
go on to say that they like being able to return the children to
their parents when the time comes.

These grandparents have already gone through the daily cares and
worries of raising children. Now it is time for them to take
pleasure in their grandchildren.

VOICE ONE:

Yet some grandparents have the responsibility of full-time care
for their children's children. At any one time, the research
organization RAND says, ten percent of grandparents live only with a
grandchild.

RAND says four-million children in the United States live with
their grandparents. But two-and-one-half-million of them also have
at least one of their parents in the same home. These children
represent around four-percent of all grandchildren. RAND researchers
say this percentage has not changed much in recent years. But the
growing number of young people in the United States means that the
total numbers are rising.

VOICE TWO:

Nearly one-and-one-half million children live with their
grandparents only. This is two percent of all grandchildren. The
RAND researchers say this rate has increased in recent years, but
not much. It had been decreasing from nineteen-forty through the
nineteen-eighties.

The RAND researchers say African American children are more
likely to live with their grandparents. They report that about eight
percent live with their parents and grandparents. Almost six percent
live only with their grandparents.

The researchers say black grandmothers historically have played a
more important part in child-raising than white grandmothers. The
researchers add that higher poverty rates among minority families
may also help explain these numbers.

VOICE ONE:

Some grandparents who care for their grandchildren have legal
custody. This means they have full responsibility for raising them.
Other grandparents take care of their grandchildren full time, but
do not have legal control. In some cases, one or both parents also
stay in the grandparents' home, but are unable to care for their
children.

Some grandparents take care of their grandchildren only during
the day. This is so one or both of the parents can work or attend
school.

VOICE TWO:

The reasons that grandparents become caretakers for their
grandchildren are often sad, as you might think. The parents may
have died. Or they may no longer live together. Other times, a
parent might have a serious health problem, or use illegal drugs.
One or both parents may be in jail. Or they left their children
without care, or physically mistreated them.

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VOICE ONE:

Mental health specialists say there is no way to know how
children will feel living with their grandparents. They may feel
happy and secure, or they may suffer emotional problems. They might
mourn the loss of the family situation they had before. Young people
may not want to obey the rules and advice from their grandparents.
Other children at school might even make fun of their living
situation.

VOICE TWO:

The grandparents also may have difficulties. Even if they receive
public aid, they may struggle financially to support their
grandchildren. Grandparents who have jobs may have to find
additional childcare.

Grandparents who are responsible for young children might not
have the energy to deal with them. Health is an issue. Older people
might worry about, if they die, what would happen to their
grandchildren.

VOICE ONE:

Social workers say many grandparents who care for their
children's children express loneliness. They do not have anyone to
talk to about the children's health or schoolwork or problems of
growing up. Most friends their age finished with such concerns long
ago.

A program in Dorchester, Massachusetts, helps caretaker
grandparents deal with situations like these. The program is called
GrandFamilies House. This is a living center with twenty-seven
apartments for grandparents and their grandchildren. Most of the
adults are grandmothers.

Several agencies also operate in the building. The Y.W.C.A. of
Boston, for example, provides childcare and help with schoolwork. It
also provides computer education for people of all ages.

VOICE TWO:

Several years ago, researchers from the University of
Massachusetts did a study at GrandFamilies House. They asked about
issues like how the grandparents felt spending their later years
caring for grandchildren. One woman said she enjoyed seeing her
grandchildren grow up. She said she had worked all the time when her
own children were small. Another grandmother said the children kept
her young.

A place like GrandFamilies House also helps keep families
together. Many of the grandparents say they are glad to be able to
keep their grandchildren out of foster care. Foster care is a system
where state and local agencies place children in temporary homes or
emergency shelters.

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VOICE ONE:

Americans celebrate Mother's Day and Father's Day. So why not a
day to honor grandparents?

Grandparents Day was established in nineteen-seventy-eight. This
holiday is observed in September on the first Sunday after Labor Day
in the United States. Some families gather for a special meal.
Others will send gifts or cards to faraway grandparents, or call, or
write them an e-mail.

VOICE TWO:

But grandparents do not need a special holiday to talk to their
grandchildren. A computer programmer who lives in Reston, Virginia,
says she will never forget a telephone call she received. The call
came a few minutes before she was about to get married. It was her
grandfather on the line. He was eighty-seven-years old, and very
sick. He called to say, "Have a happy life!"

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VOICE ONE:

Our program was written Jerilyn Watson and produced by Caty
Weaver. I'm Phoebe Zimmermann.

VOICE TWO:

And I'm Steve Ember. Listen again next week for THIS IS AMERICA,
in Special English, on the Voice of America.