Ken Canfield at GrandsMatter reminds us how important it is to help parents. That our support for our adult children’s marriages matters. He suggests a simple phone call with an offer to babysit while they go out on a date. Almost every young family can use a date night. Since we don’t really need a good reason to enjoy the grandkids, doing it with the understanding that we are helping their parents stay together, makes it doubly good.

It is a great investment of our time.

When we support our grandchildren’s parents, we help insure their family’s stability.

According to McKinley Irvin Family Law

“The U.S. Census Bureau found that divorce rates for most age groups have been dropping since 1996. Looking at specific divorce statistics for age and region — as well as gay and celebrity divorce rates — can provide an interesting picture of divorce stats in the U.S.
United States Divorce Statistics

“Most people already know that around 50 percent of marriages in the United States end in divorce. The number is similarly high in many other developed nations.

“When you break that down by number of marriages:

41 percent of first marriages end in divorce.
60 percent of second marriages end in divorce.
73 percent of third marriages end in divorce.”

Glance up at those numbers again. 

Can you imagine the numbers of children these statistics represent? 

According to reports, 43 percent of American children are raised without dads. Due to divorce, 75 percent of children are being raised by single mothers.

“Half of all American children will witness the breakup of a parent’s marriage. Of these children, close to half will also see the breakup of a parent’s second marriage.” 

McKinley Irvin Family Law

As Canfield mentions in the video above, our grandchildren go to school every day and see their friend’s devastation due to divorce. Divorce is a very real problem. It is perhaps, barring abuse, the first time a child has to deal with the real world and adult size problems. 

Another way we can help parents is offer to keep their children when things are not going so well. When a date isn’t what’s on the agenda. Because, sometimes, getting away to be able to speak your mind without worrying about what the children hear can be as beneficial. 

Have an open door policy. So that if the parents are fighting, they know they can bring the children for you to watch. Children don’t always need to know what is going on with their mom and dad. Youth distorts their perceptions. Hearing their parents argue can fuel their anxiety. 

In a perfect world we wouldn’t have to worry about our children’s marriages falling apart. Or what would happen to our grandchildren if it did. Although we don’t live in a perfect world we can do our part to help our grandchildren’s world stay as perfect and healthy as possible. 

 

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