IT has been the role of grandparents to spoil their grandchildren since time immemorial. But if the latest public health research from the University of Glasgow is to be believed, it seems they could inadvertently be killing their progeny with kindness and setting up serious health issues for the future.
Researchers found that despite meaning well, grandparents can have an adverse effect on the health of their grandchildren in terms of weight and diet, lavishing too many treats, generally overfeeding, not encouraging enough physical activity and not complying with parents’ wishes around second-hand smoke.
We all know by now that obesity, lack of exercise and tobacco smoke are risk factors for cancer and a litany of other serious conditions, and grandparents would doubtless be extremely distressed to think they were harming their grandchildren.
But this research is also interesting in that it reflects changes in society that give many grandparents more extensive childcare responsibilities than ever before.
With this in mind, it’s important that families are able to talk open and honestly about what is in the best interest of the children without making grandparents feel guilty or undervalued. After all, there’s no one quite like grandma, or indeed grandpa, when it comes to free babysitting.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here