My dear son-in-law just sent me an article about the benefits of caring for grandchildren and maintaining good cognitive health. According to life.damn.com, a study of 186 Australian grandmothers with a variety of childcare schedules showed that taking on the extra responsibility of occasionally babysitting is healthy. This brain health was reflected in cognitive tests issued before and during the study. However, the research found that full-time childcare can result in lower cognitive scores. As for the latter, I wonder if these were literally full-time grandmothers raising their grandchildren and that would be quite a different experience or if the grandmothers were too tired at the end of the week to think much less take a test. I bet most of them would have recovered by Monday and it would be rare for them to walk away with their brains working.
I have two grandchildren, one and three years old. They are the sweetest, busiest, most energetic souls I have ever met. Living two hours away, they show up on the weekend or we travel to their house for hours of euphoria and delight. Sometimes mom and dad get the full-time job when mom and dad go out for a while as a couple. That is when we are exceptionally pleased to have a team approach so that one grandparent can prepare lunch, for example, while the other plays and entertains and then the other has a little break. I really shouldn’t say that we entertain the grandchildren as they actually entertain us. My ribs ache as we say goodbye after so much laughter and joy. My outlook is brighter, my life is better, and my brain is fully operational and engaged.
Our third grandchild will be born at the end of August. This explains the article mentioned at the beginning. Our daughter and her husband live four hours away from us and expect us to step in as babysitters when she returns to work. I can’t think of any role that could be more rewarding and delightful and we look forward to this responsibility while keeping our busy schedules at home. While we are both retired, those of you who are actively retired know that this means you have traded one set of tasks and concerns for another. I often wonder how I worked full time and accomplished everything else as well. Fortunately, both parents have fantastic jobs that they love and pay well, allowing her to go back to work thirty hours a week, Wednesday through Friday. This leaves me four days for all my other projects plus my other grandchildren.
Some say we are crazy to accept this challenge, but I know that every second we spend with our little granddaughter will reap rewards. I also realize that I have a home, a garden, volunteer work, and more to go on as I sway to spending time with our other loved ones, trying to keep everything as even as possible. Obviously there will be plenty of time to think and plan while I’m driving so I can play mind games and enjoy recorded books. Now I also know that my brain will be more powerful and richer because I’m babysitting. What an exciting and exciting time awaits us!