Grandparent
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Grandparents are family members, the father and mother of a person's own father and mother, being respectively grandfather and grandmother. Grandparents form an important part of the extended family.
In western societies, particularly the United States of America given unstable relationships and relationship breakup between parents, high levels of unstable cohabitation or common-law marriage relationships and divorce, grandparents have increasingly taken on the role of primary caregivers for their grandchildren.
In traditional cultures, grandparents often had a direct and clear role in relation to the care and nurture of children. This has tended to be lost with the development of the nuclear family.
In traditional East Asian culture, filial piety is the top moral under the influence of Confucianism. The grandparents usually exercise its authority on the matter of family and their descendants should care and obey their seniors. This kind of structure gradually eases with the increasing influence of western culture and the increasing number of nuclear family. In Hong Kong, some grandparents live with one of their children and assume the role of parent for grandchildren when grandchildren's parents are out to work all day.
Grandchildren addressing grandparents
Generally grandchildren use more informal terms to refer to their grandparents.Familiar nicknames for grandmothers in the United States include Grandma, Gramma, Grams, Gram, Granny, Nana, Gummy, and in the South, Maa Maw, Mee Mee, Mee Maw, Maw Maw and Memeré. Common names in the UK include Grandma, Gran, Granny, Mamma, Nanny, Nana, Nan, and Nan-Nan. Oma and Opa are also common terms for grandmother and grandfather in Eastern Europe. Grandmother nicknames are usually culturally specific and taught to children through baby talk.
Some common names for grandparents in India are Beeji and Papaji, Dadaji and Dadiji, Nanaji and Naniji. There are many more in different regions.
Familiar nicknames for grandfathers include Grandpa, Grandad, Granda, Grampa, Gramps, Grandpappy, Papa, and Grandaddy, and in the South, Paa Paw.
See also
- Family
- *Cousin chart
- *Father
- *Mother
- *Family law
- Child
- *Illegitimacy
- Consanguinity
- Interpersonal relationship and Intimate relationship
- *Cohabitation
- *Common-law marriage
- *Divorce
- *Marriage
- Management
- *Grandfather principle
External links
- [For Grandparenting] dedicated to raising grandparent consciousness and identity through education, research and networking.
- [(USA) National Grandparents Day] on the first Sunday after Labor Day.
- [Grandparenting support database] AARP
- [Links to Australian grandparent support groups]
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