Grandparents are "worth their weight in gold", according to the founder of the Catholic Grandparents Association after the publication of a report which showed grandparents are worth £3,500 to their families each year.
The 21st Century Grandparenting report said grandparents were now contributing at least 10 hours free childcare – a rise of over an hour in the last year. According to the report commissioned by the over-50s insurance group RIAS, nearly half of all grandparents are providing such care, equating to approximately £1,830 a year.
And the same amount are prepared to make regular financial payouts to help improve standards of living. Clothes, days out and gifts are frequently paid for by grandparents and they contribute towards computers and driving lessons.
However the founder of the CGA, Catherine Wiley, told The Universe that quantifying the savings grandparents can make for families missed the point.
"Grandparents help families in every way but most importantly with spiritual and emotional support. They are very unvalued, particularly when it comes to passing on the faith and moral values. The value of their life experience and lived wisdom is incalculable," said Mrs Wiley.
"The aspirations they held as parents have been superseded by more fundamental hopes. As parents we want the best education and the best jobs for our children but when we become grandparents we just want our grandchildren to be decent people because we have realised the true essence of life.
"Often we are better with our grandchildren than we were with our children. Grandparents have a difficult and challenging role in the family and it is essential not to undermine the parents.
"We are the stabilisers of the family, our love is unconditional and there is no sacrifice we will not make. We love our children but we adore our grandchildren," she said.
Founded in Ireland, the CGA is fast-becoming a major force in the support of family life. Last month the association addressed the European Marian Shrine Directors' Conference at which every shrine director agreed to organise a grandparents' pilgrimage and to display the Pope's prayer for grandparents.
Mrs Wiley has been invited by the Pontifical Council for the Family to address the World Family Meeting in Milan next year to give the witness and testimony of the vocation of grandparents.
And plans are already advancing for the Pope to lead a CGA pilgrimage in Rome in 2013, at which the solidarity of Catholic grandparents across the world will be celebrated.
The 21st Century Grandparenting report said grandparents were now contributing at least 10 hours free childcare – a rise of over an hour in the last year. According to the report commissioned by the over-50s insurance group RIAS, nearly half of all grandparents are providing such care, equating to approximately £1,830 a year.
And the same amount are prepared to make regular financial payouts to help improve standards of living. Clothes, days out and gifts are frequently paid for by grandparents and they contribute towards computers and driving lessons.
However the founder of the CGA, Catherine Wiley, told The Universe that quantifying the savings grandparents can make for families missed the point.
"Grandparents help families in every way but most importantly with spiritual and emotional support. They are very unvalued, particularly when it comes to passing on the faith and moral values. The value of their life experience and lived wisdom is incalculable," said Mrs Wiley.
"The aspirations they held as parents have been superseded by more fundamental hopes. As parents we want the best education and the best jobs for our children but when we become grandparents we just want our grandchildren to be decent people because we have realised the true essence of life.
"Often we are better with our grandchildren than we were with our children. Grandparents have a difficult and challenging role in the family and it is essential not to undermine the parents.
"We are the stabilisers of the family, our love is unconditional and there is no sacrifice we will not make. We love our children but we adore our grandchildren," she said.
Founded in Ireland, the CGA is fast-becoming a major force in the support of family life. Last month the association addressed the European Marian Shrine Directors' Conference at which every shrine director agreed to organise a grandparents' pilgrimage and to display the Pope's prayer for grandparents.
Mrs Wiley has been invited by the Pontifical Council for the Family to address the World Family Meeting in Milan next year to give the witness and testimony of the vocation of grandparents.
And plans are already advancing for the Pope to lead a CGA pilgrimage in Rome in 2013, at which the solidarity of Catholic grandparents across the world will be celebrated.
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