Grandparents want to enjoy retirement, not provide free childcare
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U naffordable childcare is at the fulcrum of the UK's economic woes. It suffers some of the highest costs of any country, as much as 25 per cent of income after benefits, with one in three parents with children under five saying they are struggling to afford their childcare. A slight respite is coming shortly, as next month ushers in the government's 30 hours of free childcare for under-fives. Parents may breathe a sigh of relief, but nurseries across the country are braced for the extra demand.
If such largesse sounds unsustainable an alternative can be found in Spain, where armies of grandparents shoulder their family's childcare responsibilities. Some 85 per cent of Spanish grandparents help their offspring with parenting duties according to a survey — much higher than the 50 to 60 per cent in other European countries such as France and Denmark. The research, conducted by the charity SOS Children's Villages, reports that half of Spain's grandparents assist with childcare duties and 29 per cent do so daily.
The advantages of this model are obvious: it is cost-free for parents and provides grandparents with frequent contact with their loved ones. It may also be assisting birthrates, which are in decline across the West. But los abuelos, the grandparents, may have had enough: a new report in El País suggests that they are increasingly setting clear limits to their duties in order to better enjoy their retirements. 'I don't want to be the babysitter,' one Spanish grandmother told the newspaper.
It is hard to disagree. Grandparents should naturally be happy to step in, but they should not be left to shoulder all of the burden. Even the fittest and healthiest of retirees lacks the energy and focus of professional childcare, however unaffordable it is. After a lifetime of working, and bringing up their own children, grandparents deserve a good long siesta. Especially in the Spanish sun.
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