ULOGA BAKE I DJEDA U OBITELJI: MIŠLJENJA I STAVOVI MAJKI
ROLE OF GRANDPARENTS IN THE FAMILY: OPINIONS AND ATTITUDES OF MOTHERS

Summary/Abstract: The modern family has significantly changed its structure, with regard to the past decades, by increasing the number of nuclear and single-parent families and remarried families, while reducing the number of extended or multi-generational families. Independent living of parents and their children in their own households has emerged as a growing trend, while cohabitation with extended family members is extremely rare. Although these trends point out to an eagerness for independence in "young" families, there is, nonetheless, a desire of young parents to maintain (to a greater or a lesser extent) close contacts and relationships with their parents and parent families, i.e. with grandparents of their own children. Grandparents present the most natural replacement for parents, and because of their life experience, they can be a source of knowledge and support that can help in a child's development. In order to determine parents' views on the involvement of grandparents in family life, interviews were conducted with sixteen (16) mothers of early and preschool age children. The results of the research section of this paper point out to both advantages and disadvantages of active involvement of grandparents in the lives of families. Effects of grandparents’ non-involvement in child upbringing on all participants were also outlined. The advantages include emotional, physical and financial support, counseling, satisfaction with the quality of the grandparent - grandchild relationship, time for oneself and avoiding of enrolling into nursery/preschool. However, extreme interference with the child's upbringing, lenience with grandchildren, excessive affective grandchild – grandparent bond, loss of parental authority and the parents’ financial burden due to acquired habits have emerged as disadvantages. In addition to the aforementioned, positive and negative effects of the involvement of grandparents in the upbringing of children, concerning them, the children and their parents, were identified. The fact that arises is that the support of grandparents usually makes child’s upbringing easier. Additionally, what grandparents can offer their grandchildren is unconditional love, a sense of security, community and support, albeit sometimes in the wrong direction.

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