ABSTRACT
What is the future of grandparenting, given the rapid pace of social change? How can grandparents be facilitated to take their place in families in ways that are mutually beneficial to all generations? What is effective grandparenting? In earlier chapters we drew together research on the roles and experiences of grandparents, past and present. But significant gaps in our knowledge of contemporary grandparenting exist. A great deal of the early research has been about ‘numbers’ – counting the occurrence of certain behaviours or activities, or monitoring the health of an ageing population. What became glaringly obvious as we examined the literature was how little research there was exploring the dynamics of the grandparenting role, the processes involved in becoming and being a grandparent and how this relationship is embedded in family and society. We particularly noted the paucity of research on grandparents who are actively engaged with their grandchildren but not fulltime carers, that is, those who help with child care either casually or regularly, but do not take on parental responsibility. Even those grandparents who are primary carers receive relatively little attention, surprisingly in light of the exceptional contribution, psychological, social and economic, they make to their families and to society.
