ABSTRACT
In memories of childhood, grandparents—and grandmothers in particular—loom large. Growing up in the Caribbean for the majority of informants meant growing up in close proximity to a grandparent or two. For Henriques, as for other scholars, the primary explanation for both the prevalence of grandparents in the upbringing of children and for what appears to be an extended period of dependency lay in economics. In the context of African-Caribbean migrant families, the role of grandparents in the rearing of the children of parents absent through migration is necessarily brought into profile. Interviewing across the generations however, revealed that the role and importance of grandparents in contributing to the upbringing of grandchildren was not solely dependent on an absent parent. The role of grandparents and other elderly relatives in the care of children necessarily extends the influence of the generations and the cross-generational link, providing a longitudinal or vertical integration into the family, and its values.
