By Kristy McDonald
THEY may be years or even decades past their toddler-rearing days, but grandparents are increasingly taking on the role of carer for their young grandchildren.
Communities for Children program manager Margaret Rutherford says new research shows about 4.7 per cent of Brimbank area children are receiving care from their grandparents before they reach school age.
“Anecdotal evidence suggests those numbers are growing,” Ms Rutherford said.
“And while these grandparents have already successfully raised their own children, they would benefit from meeting other caregivers their age, sharing experiences and getting support and advice.”
Ms Rutherford said data gathered from schools and preschools also showed that a significant number of children attended school with little or no experience of being among other children.
She said playgroups had been identified by the Department of Child and Maternal Health as a vital stepping stone for children and parents in their academic and social development and Communities for Children had begun nine new facilitated playgroups that catered for specific needs.
“We have playgroups that cater for a range of carer groups including young mums and specific ethnic groups,” Ms Rutherford said.
“The language barrier was identified as a particular issue with ethnic groups but once the playgroups were set up, for the African and Vietnamese groups in particular, they very quickly filled up.
“Playgroups are very effective for parents to socialise and looking after kids is isolating unless you have those social networks.
“(Grandparents) have raised their own children, they’ve moved on and they are in a peer group that is doing things that don’t take into account the needs of a toddler, for example.”
MacKillop Family Services has taken on the task of coordinating the grandparents’ playgroup, with great results.
In the Farrugia household, Helen and Joe are lending a big hand in the care of grandson Brayden while their son and daughter-in-law work and study full-time.
“We’ve got (Brayden) Tuesdays and Thursdays; my son works long hours and my daughter-in-law goes to uni, she’s doing VCE as well,” Helen said.
“Brayden has his grandparents around all the time and his auntie and uncle, but we wanted to get him into some activities, do something with him to meet other kids and this is great for company, meeting other grandparents.”
Helen said that in accordance with the philosophy behind the program the grandparents’ playgroup gave as much benefit to the carers as it did to the children.
“If you go to the other ones and you’re a grandma, I feel the mums, they kind of look at you differently,” she said.
“And everyone’s got different situations – we’ve got our family living with us so everyone’s together, but in our group there’s one lady who’s got her grandchild permanently, another ‘grandparent’ is not actually the child’s grandmother, but she’s got custody.
“Our family is really close, but my son and daughter-in-law are still young and with some things, if you’ve got a problem, a young person can’t help you with it.
“It’s also good having someone who’s not tied to you as a relative to talk to, like our friends at playgroup.”
Local grandparents who provide care to babies and toddlers are invited to join the new playgroup, which meets each week during the school term in Sunshine.
Contact Catherine Foreman at MacKillop Family Services on 9680 8444.
