Discussion
1. (300 words - no more no less than 300)
Consider caregiver burden from a personal perspective. If you are an informal caregiver of an older adult, please share the major stressors in your life. If you are not an informal caregiver, interview someone who is, please.
Review the- Caregiver stress: Tips for taking care of yourself
Make some real plans to reduce stress for you or the person interviewed, using one or more of these strategies.
• Summarize your plans to reduce caregiver burden in 300 words .
2. (200 words)
Reflect on the ways grand parenting has changed over the years and then share your thoughts with us. Don't forget to post your references to support your opinions - even when responding to peers. It will lend credence to your opinions. Maybe give us a Profile of a 1950's grandparent versus a 2017 grandparent. :-) What role does the economy play in this comparison?
3. (200 words- 100 per post)
• Reply to the following discussion posts (2). Make sure that the replies are thought provocative and that other than just agreeing or disagreeing explain with facts and opinions.
Reply 1 :
The role of grand parenting has changed over time. It's great for grandchildren to spend time with their grandparents because it brings the closer together and creating great memories for children. In the past, the grandparents played an important role in the family. Grandparents helped care for and raise the grandchildren. Older grandparents that could no longer be independent were cared for by the children and family. Grandparents helped take care of the household and perform family chores. They also helped discipline and teach children. Most grandparents did in the 1950's did not work past retirement age (Haider&Loughran, 2010). Grandparents and parents used to stay at home and care for children and grandchildren as most woman worked in the home rather than in careers or professions.
Today however, children are cared for at child care centers while grandparents are sent off to nursing homes to be cared for by paid aids. Grandparents are not allowed to discipline grandchildren as they used to in the past as they may risk their own well-being and be reported to authorities for abusing a child. The elderly today continues to work past retirement age because they are not able to support themselves financially (Loretto&Vickerstaff, 2015). Many of them start new jobs or look into new hobbies after retirement as a way to keep themselves busy. However, there are still grandparents that end up caring for grandchildren that were left by children that are not suitable or in a stable situation to care for their own children. Times have changed and so has grand parenting but the important role they can play in grandchildren's lives has not and will not.
Reply 2:
Back in the 1950's times were different than now in that families were mostly with single incomes where only the father worked and mothers stayed home and raised their kids and grandparents were grandparents. In today's society there are an array of different family units such as both parents working using daycare, single parents, and grandparents raising their grandchildren, just to name a few.
Grandparents that aren't raising their grandchildren have larger roles in helping their children care for their grandchildren by babysitting, and or supporting them more financially. I think there is a lot of dysfunctional families in today's society compared to the old days. Many single parents struggle to make ends meet in today's economy and can't afford childcare therefore relying on their parents for help. According to Sprang et al. (2015), grandparents who are raising their grandchildren are doing so unfortunately due to many different issues that arise out of today's society such as "caregiver substance abuse, child abuse and neglect, intimate partner violence, and parental incarceration" p. 315. Years ago, the reasons grandparents were taking over the care of the young were for different, less dysfunctional reasons such as a parent becoming ill and dying or where the parent was called away for active duty military commitments (Sprang et al., 2015). My daughter is student teaching currently in K-6 and she is witnessing up close and personal the diverse family dysfunction that goes on in today's schools and says it is heartbreaking.
Note: Please, make sure to site the resources used and to only use internet resources. No library resources will be allowed. Sitation Style APA.