reflection pape 5

Parenting Role of Grandparents
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Parenting Role of Grandparents
Parenting is a process that follows after giving birth. Taking care of the child’s basic needs and providing understanding, support, attention, and love to a child are termed as good parenting. Parenting can be in two forms, single parenting or couple parenting. Single parenting is when either a father or the mother of a child takes the responsibilities to help the child. Couple parenting is when both parents support the child, there is a share of responsibility. In some cases, especially in the African American society, grandparents are seen to take responsibilities to support their grandchildren. The discussion below will be based on how grandparents are taking care of their grandchildren in the African American families, the challenges they face, their living characteristic and what impact it has brought to the society.
Many factors have led to grandparents taking care of their grandchildren. In our society today of the 21st century, cases of divorces, aids and drug abuse have left many children abandoned by their parents. The children are either abandoned or left orphans, and this results in them to become street children (Waites, 2009). I think that teenage pregnancy has also significantly caused a burden of parenting to grandparents. In some cases, parents find difficulties in raising their children and grandparents take their responsibility for them. They become parents a second time around when raising their grandchildren.

The fact that grandparents see their grandchildren in need of attention, understanding, and care makes them support those children. I figured out that parents have become so irresponsible to their children since there is care that the child can get from their grandparents (Waites, 2009). In the African American society, a relationship of the previous generation and the recent generation in grandparent responsibility of parenting is common and has become a culture of the families.
Grandparents head some of the families in the African American families. Such families with the head being grandparents are referred to as grand families. Grand families are common especially in the American setup where there are African Americans. A grandparent is seen to live with children below 18 years old due to the irresponsibility of a biological parent. The grandparents take ups the role of caring for their grandchildren, and this is seen as kinship care where the grandparent takes care of the child of his or her next of kin.
I think grandparents consider that the grandchildren are their true blood. Due to them belonging to the family, the grandparents have to take care of the children as a way to show love, respect and other family values to the society. Grand parenting has led to grandparents going back to work even after retirement since financial aid for themselves and the grandchildren is on demand (Waites, 2009). Grand parenting is now in the new generation starting at an early age of 55 years old. It has been induced due to early pregnancies where girls get pregnant at an early age of even 13 years old when they engage themselves in bad morals such as prostitution and substance abuse.
In conclusion, parenting responsibility among the African American families is ending up increasing in the day-to-day life. The number of their children taken care of by grandparents increased from 3- 12 percent. In comparison to the white families, the rise is from 1-4 percent. In this generation, 2.5 million families in the US are maintained by grandparents, and they have more than one grandchildren in their households (Waites, 2009). I agree with the author that grandparents do have a positive impact on their grandchildren through the knowledge they offer since they are wisdom holders of a family.
Reference
Waites, C. (Ed.). (2009). Social work practice with African American families: An intergenerational perspective. Routledge.