It's wonderful to have total care of them. Keeping criticisms to themselves is another challenge for many. Some respondents feel their children are too lenient as parents and fail to teach good manners or values. Others cringe when they feel their grandchildren are being punished too harshly. Several express concern that grandchildren don't have enough time with their parents or receive too many material possessions.
Divorce is particularly tough for many grandparents.
Some are able to maintain a good relationship with their grandchildren. She's a wonderful mom to my two grandchildren. But others are unable to stay close to their grandchildren. The most painful comments come from grandparents who, because of estrangement or poor relationships with their child's ex-spouse, can't see their grandchildren. Several say their grandchildren are used as pawns to punish grandparents for real or imagined misunderstandings and slights.