Melbourne, Apr 29 (ANI): Societal trends in Australia are turning grand parents into an endangered species, it has been revealed.
With an increasing number of women delaying childbirth until their late 30s and 40s, more people are becoming grandparents at an older age, limiting their capacity to care for grandchildren, News.com.au reported.
In 2011, the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported a record 12,800 babies born to women over 40, up from just 7100 in 2001, with the median age for Australian mothers sitting at 30.6.
A 40-year-old mother who has to wait the average 30.6 or 40 years for her child to become a parent will be 70 or 80 by the time she herself becomes a grandparent, something Queensland University of Technology social psychologist Associate Professor Evonne Miller says is undoubtedly changing the face of traditional grandparenting.
"The reality is that the trend towards late motherhood is likely to change the role of grandparents and how they interact with their grandchildren," she said.
She said that caring and interacting with a toddler is typically much more physically taxing for someone in their late 70s, 80s and 90s than at age 50 or 60.
Miller said other societal factors such as marriage breakdowns and geographical separation were also helping to redefine the role of the grandparent.
Director of Grandparents Australia Anne McLeish said while women shouldn't feel pressured to have children earlier, they should realise the limitations delaying childbirth might place on their own parents.
That trend is being reflected in the skyrocketing popularity of Find-A-Grandparent, an online service that matches Australian families in need with "surrogate grandparents".
Director Cate Kloos, who launched the service last year to find a surrogate for her own two children, said she is desperate to recruit more grandparents to meet the demand from families. (ANI)
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