Retirement is an opportunity to start a new life and new activities for seniors. They are sometimes caught up and (over)asked to look after the young children. They demonstrate the right distance to find a balance while maintaining a more or less active role in the education of children. [Première publication le 30 septembre 2024]
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“Family life comes first. If necessary, I am there to look after the grandchildren.” This Friday, Françoise is “permanent” at the Secours populaire d’Auray with two others “grandmas”.
Today she will leave early. “I pick up my little girls from school three times a week.” she explains. In the association, this is not a problem. “Here, we are almost all retirees with small children. We try to organize ourselves and juggle our schedules.”
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Volunteers, grannies, working women, these three grandmothers, like 93% of the 15 million grandparents in France, enjoy spending time with their grandchildren. They do not necessarily have the same vision of their role with them and try to find the right balance with their personal life.
According to an Ifop survey, more than one in two grandparents look after their grandchildren for at least one hour per week (55%). “This time spent is directly correlated to the distance between the grandparents’ homes and those of the grandchildren.” Like Nelly, whose “the children are far away. The closest is in Rennes”, she still tries to invest while keeping time for herself.
“Education is left to the parents, develops the latter with a smile on her lips. We’re here to help out, to give a little help.” Most of her grandchildren are already grown up, so she tries to talk with them, to guide them “in their uncertainties, their doubts. I explain to them that life has always been like this, that we have all been there. Their anxiety, their fears, their worries must be put into perspective.”
Nelly also tries to instill values in them. “It is my role to make them aware that they must take their part in society, volunteer and make a minimum of effort. For some, it works.“
“You have to know how to put the kibosh on it!” exclaims Myreille, the dynamic young senior, is still active. She has her own business and comes to volunteer one day a week. It’s a grandmother who is there to “troubleshoot“but no more!
“For education, there are nurseries, nannies, etc. We have already given and we are not on the same wavelength! I only take leisure time, the good parts are better.“A weekend from time to time or when the nursery closes for Christmas.
“There are three kinds of grandparents, develops Soizic, a “Nanou“very close to his granddaughter. There are those who are not interested, those who are involved during the holidays, but not in daily life, and those, like us, who do what they can to participate in daily life.“With the grandfather, they even moved to Morbihan to accompany their children and granddaughter.
“We have become closer. It gives us a second life, a change and it’s less monotonous.” His retirement must also rhyme with reading, the Monday market in Auray, crosswords, cinema and travel. “You have to be able to reconcile all this, make time, but it’s a pleasure.”
For her, as for her husband Bernard, they play a role in education. “You have to help him growexplains this former teacher. There is a real pleasure in making him discover things, flavors, colors.“The idea for him is too”to find time to spend more time with my little girl than with my daughter. In working life, you have less time for your children. Life with your grandchildren is less stressful. You are cooler and calmer.”
“We have a lot more patience.” Jean-Claude also has the same opinion. “JI left at 7 a.m. and returned a clock later at 7-7:30 p.m. You see them, the children go to bed and that’s it.“The young retiree from Guignen is therefore trying to free up some time.”These are memories. They will say grandpa was never there where he was there. I put them to work. It will mark them.”
