Extended Family Relationships
For working parents, short school days and long school holidays mean that grandparents and relatives become an important source of practical support. But generational differences in perspectives mean that this practical support can come with emotional challenges. If you're a grandparent looking for advice, see our resource page for a link to the Age UK website.
Emotional Ties with Wider Family
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He's quite close to our wider family although they are not local, but he chats on the phone really well so particularly with my mum, he'll have good old chats with her. She's worked in childcare, so she's very tolerant of small children. And we're hoping to see them soon. So, he, he has a wider family that he's, he enjoys spending time with, and friends, some friends outside of school, who he enjoys spending time with as well.
Generational Differences in Parenting
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The biggest that I struggle with is the dropping him off, because it was easy when he was in nursery, he wanted to go to nursery, he loved it. Whereas the school sometimes he doesn't want to go and I don't know how to deal with that. I think it's whereby when I was a kid, I was scared of my dad is the wrong thing to say, but I was scared of getting in trouble. So, if my mum or dad said: "Right, you've got to go to school," I'd be like, "Oh shit! I better go to school, because I need to go to school". Whereas he is stubborn and a lot cleverer than what I was at his age and will say, "Well, why?" and then, "If I don't want to go to school, why have I got to do something I don't want to do, because you tell me all the time that, only do things..." We try and instill in him, "You're going to have to do things you don't want to do, however let's try and do things you want to do so that like life is enjoyable sort of thing". So, that I struggle with, and I think I always will.
