Abstract
The COVID-19 crisis has dramatically altered our lives-both at the micro and macro levels. Apart from bringing in deaths, illnesses and devastations, it also struck at the most elementary level of our society - the children. The pandemic has forced educational institutions and offices to shift to an online mode, thus intensifying the already existing childcare crisis. In the midst of such an existential crisis, it is interesting to note that in many families, grandparents have stepped in for helping out their adult children who are already overwhelmed by work pressure, childcare and household responsibilities. Against such a background, an attempt has been made to understand the challenges that the grandparents have experienced in dealing with the pandemic childcare crisis. The paper also aims to understand the qualitative contribution of grandparents towards their children, grandkids and the coping strategies that the senior and middle generations have used in fighting with this unprecedented crisis.
Introduction
The coronavirus pandemic has revolutionised our lives in unprecedented ways-from bringing the global economy to a standstill to restricting physical movements, the impact has been disruptive, painful and sudden. A report published by the World Bank Group (2021) states that the pandemic has caused a 5.2% contraction in the world GDP in 2020, which has created the deepest global recession in several decades. While some effects of the COVID-19 crisis such as massive job losses, shutting down of businesses, disruption of living spaces, migration and healthcare crises have been visible, certain other crises such as the childcare crisis have been not much visible initially. However, the crises concerning children’s education and overall well-being for the global population have become so severe in recent times that UNICEF has considered ‘lack of childcare’ as one of the worst affected services that has been available to worldwide families. According to the report published by UNICEF (Gromada et al., 2020), at present more than 35 million children worldwide are occasionally left without adult supervision - a phenomenon that already existed in the pre-pandemic era due to factors such as economic pressure for both parents to earn, breakdown of joint families and absence of affordable childcare. However, with the sudden arrival of the pandemic, 99% of children worldwide had restrictions on movement, with 60% under being some form of lockdown which has created a global childcare crisis, with women unequally sharing the childcare responsibility.
The unequal childcare burden was somewhat inevitable during the pandemic because even in the pre-pandemic era childcare responsibility fell majorly on women, which simply continued during the pandemic. Several research studies have confirmed the gendered nature of the COVID-19 pandemic (Yavorsky et al., 2021). Recently, a report published by International Development Research Centre, the Growth and Economic Opportunities for Women East Africa initiative, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, FemDev and the Initiative for What Works to Advance Women and Girls in the Economy has pointed out that women around the world are now investing more than 30 hours on average towards childcare (International Development Research Centre, 2021).
While parents around the world are still coping with the childcare crisis, it is interesting to observe the role that grandparents have played in this regard. Even in the pre-pandemic era, grandparents have contributed towards child development by spending time with their grandchildren, guiding them and inculcating the right values in them. However, a surprising fact is that until recently, grandparents have hardly been the focus of academic research and discussions. The negligence of researchers and society in general towards grandparenting can be observed in a 1978 report titled ‘The Older Woman: Continuities and Discontinuities’ that was jointly prepared by the National Institute of Mental Health Workshop and National Institute on Aging. This report states that ‘Grandmothers are a little studied population. We know little about their relationships with grandchildren. We need to know what older women offer and receive from their relationships with their grandchildren’ (Kornhaber & Woodward, 1985). The contribution of grandparents in re-stabilising the families during the pandemic has also been recognised by Dr Craig Garfield, paediatrician and founder of the Family & Child Health Innovations Program who commented ‘More than any other time in recent history-maybe with the exception of two World Wars-parents are relying on the support of the entire family unit, across generations, and especially grandparents. The shutting down of daycares and schools combined with working from home, forces parents to think creatively about including grandparents in unique ways that they may not have considered pre-COVID’ (Garfield, 2020, p.1).
Against such a background, the paper aims to analyse the critical role that grandparents in India have played in ‘normalising’ the disruption that the pandemic has caused by taking care of the grandchildren while the middle generation struggled to cope with work, financial and childcare pressures. The paper also attempts to understand the challenges that both grandparents and parents had to experience while playing their roles as primary or secondary caregivers in an unprecedented situation and focus on their coping strategies as well.
Review of Literature
Grandparenting is a diverse and complicated issue. Though grandparenting is a recent subject of theoretical interest, only few studies have highlighted its various aspects. Arber and Timonen (2012) point out that while grandparenting is a universal phenomenon, it can vary within different sociocultural contexts. The researchers also state that with men and women performing grandparenting differently, there also exists a gendered aspect of grandparenting. Toledo and Brown (1995) analyse grandparenting from a unique perspective. The authors offer suggestions for grandparents who are forced to act as parents and bring up a generation that often differs drastically from them in terms of values and goals. Timonen et al. (2009) explore intergenerational relationships in the context of divorced or separated families in Ireland. According to their findings, grandparents offer great support to the entire family when it might be going through a crisis, such as a divorce or separation and offer a healing touch. Most importantly, they play a crucial role in simplifying the readjustment process that has to take place between their children and grandchildren post-divorce or separation.
Literature highlighting the contribution of grandparents towards childcare in India is limited and scarce. Still, some studies in India in recent times have tried to understand the role that grandparents play in the lives of their grandchildren. In their study on young adult university students, Gray et al. (2019) find that grandmothers are more involved in the lives of their grandchildren, as compared to the grandfathers. This finding is consistent with other cross-cultural research, which highlights the gendered nature of grandparenting. The study also finds that with both parents now working outside the home, grandparents and specifically grandmothers play strong, emotional roles by comforting grandchildren when they are going through any sort of distress, correcting mistakes and even providing opinions regarding intimate decisions such as choosing one’s life partner. Chadha (2004) mentions that despite the Indian joint family undergoing several structural and functional changes, the elderly, including the grandparents are still considered strong sources of emotional support. Furthermore, they are considered reliable sources of knowledge, who also try to preserve traditions and consequently play a crucial role in the family rituals that celebrate birth, marriage, festivals and religious ceremonies, apart from mourning for the death and praying for the departed souls.
The COVID-19 crisis that forced families members, often belonging to different generations to live together under the same roof, apart from producing other long-term effects has highlighted how intergenerational interdependence has a universal context and the crucial social, economic and affective contributions that grandparents make towards households across nations. Kindred (2022) focuses on grandparenting in the pandemic era where a global healthcare crisis forced the authority to shut down workplaces, public services, educational institutions and childcare centres, thus creating enormous pressure on the middle generation to balance both caregiving responsibilities and professional work, which in turn required the grandparents to get more involved with their grandchildren. Cantillon et al. (2021) elaborate on how the UK and South Africa differed in response towards coping with the COVID-19 crisis, thus affecting childcare provisions, labour market participation and unpaid household and care work in different ways. The authors state that in the UK, the government has restricted the older generation from providing informal childcare as part of the lockdown measures, thus putting enormous financial and caregiving burdens solely on the parents. In contrast, grandparents in South Africa have helped the middle generation by contributing financially as well as by taking up informal childcare during the pandemic. Furthermore, the authors also demonstrate how in South Africa many grandparents who might be conventionally considered as ‘recipients of care’ reversed societal perceptions about them by making a crucial contribution to society by taking up childcare responsibilities, thus allowing parents to participate in the labour market and saving huge formal childcare costs.
Methodology
Area
This study was conducted in Kolkata, West Bengal.
Sample
For this study, eight joint families (eight sets of grandparents and parents) were interviewed. Among the eight families, two couples had shifted temporarily with their parents/in-laws and have been considered as joint families. Among the grandparents, all grandfathers have retired from work while grandmothers have been mostly homemakers, except one who runs a small business and another who has recently retired. Among the parents, all are employed and have children aged between 2 and 8 years.
Procedure
The paper mainly aims to understand the experiences of the senior generation, especially grandmothers who suddenly had to help out their children, battling work pressure and the childcare crisis, apart from coping with the innumerable challenges that the pandemic has thrown in 2020. However, it is impossible to understand the contribution of the grandparents in coping with the childcare crisis, without reflecting on the experiences of the middle generation. For this reason, interviews were designed to understand the caregiving experiences and challenges of both the senior and the middle generation. Along with interviews, observations and personal experiences have also been used to understand the childcare struggles and coping strategies of these two different generations.
The Major Childcare Challenges and Coping Strategies
It is a known fact that the pandemic has brought in several unprecedented and sudden changes and coping with the childcare crisis has been one of the most challenging aspects of this global pandemic, forcing people to adopt creative strategies that would help them to maintain the balance between household and professional commitments. While nuclear families have their own set of challenges, the situation has been slightly different in joint families, owing to the presence of several family members, each with their own unique standpoints and coping strategies. Research has confirmed that intergenerational bonds can be extremely beneficial for members of each generation with grandchildren being crucial sources of emotional comfort and support for the grandparents and vice-versa. The middle generation also receives various benefits when grandparents and grandchildren spend meaningful time together (Margolis & Arpino, 2019). However, it is obvious that in the midst of a raging pandemic, both the middle and senior generations have been facing a lot of challenges, especially those related to childcare. Based on data collected from personal interviews and observations, these challenges have been classified into three major areas:
Change of Routine
World Health Organisation (WHO) formally declared COVID-19 a global pandemic on 19 March 2020. While initially it was unclear what exactly is a ‘global pandemic’, within two months the daily reports of deaths, mass cremations, lack of beds in hospitals pushed the entire global population into despair, anxiety and uncertainty about the future. For the first time in modern history, countries asked citizens to stay at home, maintain social distancing and restrict travel, thus forcing people to completely or at least partially restructure their routines (McKinsey & Company, 2020). The sudden change of routine was especially tough for working mothers and grandmothers because, in the pre-pandemic phase, working mothers coped with childcare by employing local ayahs at home or putting the kids in schools or childcare centres. However, the entire well-established system collapsed when the disease started spreading and subsequently lockdown was announced. These steps had large-scale socio-economic repercussions, but it is beyond the focus of the paper to analyse these changes. Regarding childcare specifically, it was found that the sudden change of routine that happened due to the lockdown had created three major effects: (a) Increased workload; (b) Loss of leisure time; (c) Changes in physical and mental health.
Increased Workload
Increased workload has been a ‘natural’ consequence of the COVID-19 crisis. In India, when lockdown was announced, all educational institutions offices and public transport systems were shut completely and physical movements of people were restricted as well. For working parents, this announcement created two major effects: (a) local caregivers who travelled by public transport could no longer come to look after the children. (b) Schools and crèches were shut, which meant children had to be supervised all the time at home by parents, grandparents or other relatives. For grandparents, this often meant taking up more household and caregiving activities. The daily routine was disrupted and the distribution of responsibilities had completely changed.
One grandmother recounted:
I live with my husband and run a small business from house. Few days before the lockdown was announced, my daughter shifted to my house with her son because she was afraid that she won’t be able to manage things alone, since my son-in-law was away for work purpose. Unfortunately, this has disrupted my routine because now I have to cook for 4 people, instead of two. The timings have changed as well.
The situation was more or less similar for working parents, especially mothers. One working mother revealed:
Before the pandemic happened, I used to wake up at 7.30, had breakfast and went to office before dropping off my kid at school. Once the lockdown was announced, I had to wake up by 6, complete cooking, cleaning and household work before I started my official work from laptop. Doing this everyday was extremely exhausting for me but I was grateful that my in-laws could at least supervise the child when I am working.
The COVID-19 crisis also severely affected the physical and mental health of all individuals, including families headed by grandparents (Xu et al., 2020). Most of the caregivers, especially mothers and grandmothers tried to cope with this extra burden by either waking up early or sleeping late because this was the only way they could manage the additional workload. Over time, however, fewer sleeping hours created another set of mental and physical problems that were not beneficial. However, they continued with this routine since there was no other way.
Loss of Leisure Time
Loss of leisure time is recounted by both parents and grandparents as a major effect of restrictions imposed due to COVID-19. Enjoyable leisure time activities, as a study by Pressman et al. (2009) revealed can have a positive effect on physical and psychological well-being of individuals. These leisure time activities can include sports, hobbies, interacting with similar-minded individuals or simply spending some time in nature. COVID, however, put severe restrictions on most of these activities as people could no longer go out for recreational purposes.
One grandmother said:
My husband and I retired from work some years ago. We were living a little laidback life since there was no pressure of going to work. However, once the lockdown was announced, I had to do all work by myself. Moreover, with both my son and daughter-in-law working for their offices during the evening, I have to take care of the child for 4-5 hours at a stretch, resulting in the loss of my own leisure time.
The situation is almost similar for working parents, who are battling work pressure, domestic and childcare responsibilities. A working mother revealed:
Earlier I used to get a little bit more free time after dropping-off my kids to school. Now, with both my kids at home I have to look after them constantly. By the time they are asleep, I feel so exhausted that I don’t feel like doing anything else. I just go off to sleep.
Mental and Physical Exhaustion
The pandemic has brought in a lot of physical and mental exhaustion. Apart from the fear of contracting the disease, there is a constant fear of whether things are done in the right manner and amount. Also, COVID has pushed us into a trap of never-ending dilemmas such as whether to disinfect the vegetables or whether it is safe to hug children (Queen & Harding, 2020). Also, due to the contagious nature of the disease, many families had temporarily laid off cooks and maids, which means that all household activities now have to be done by the family members. The mental exhaustion has been more for women, who now have to handle household chores, caregiving responsibilities and their own professional workload. Respondents having small children are facing an extremely difficult time because they need to supervise their online classes as well. In certain cases when the parents were not present, grandparents had an equally harrowing time as well.
One grandfather revealed:
Before the pandemic I didn’t know much about technology. I have a smartphone, but I usually use it to make phone calls and send messages. However, once the lockdown was eased, my daughter left for her office by 8 AM and I had to supervise my 6 year old granddaughter’s online classes. It’s been a very difficult situation for me as I am not used to it and by the time her 2 hours online classes end, I am completely exhausted.
By now it has become clear that COVID-19 has completely disrupted the normal life everyone had by uprooting a workable system, apart from bringing in other unprecedented changes. In-depth interviews with the respondents revealed that though most of them initially did not know how to adjust to this sudden change, over a period of time they had managed to establish their own routine. Of course, on some days the routine could not be followed, which created chaos.
Development of New Conflict Zones Between Parents and Grandparents
The coronavirus pandemic has brought in its own set of challenges that did not exist before. One major issue that has cropped up is the amount of screen time that the kids spend. With the onset of the pandemic, screen time for kids has automatically increased because they have to attend online classes for two to three hours. Moreover, since their outside movement is restricted, they tend to spend even their free time watching mobile or television. While most parents interviewed by the researcher revealed that they do not encourage them to watch TV and instead would take them to the terrace or garden within the building compound, if not outside, the grandparents mostly resisted it, citing the ‘spread of virus’. A mother recounted:
I work from home for almost 8 hours every day, except on weekends. My daughter has her online classes during the weekdays and once her classes are over, I sit with my laptop and start the office work. So, during the weekend, it is obvious that we would like to relax a bit by waking up late My parents, however, insist that I should follow the same routine on the weekend as well. I feel irritated with such unwanted suggestions and there is a lot of simmering tension at home because of these underlying issues.
Interviews with this respondent highlight the fact that working mothers have certain preferences that are different from their parents/in-laws. These preferences in turn, create conflicts that often intensify because of family members staying confined in a restricted space. However, a positive aspect of the entire situation was that both the middle and senior generations attempted to handle the conflicts tactfully. For instance, one respondent (a mother) said:
Since my in-laws watch a lot of TV, my son also started doing the same. Instead of confronting my in-laws directly, I tried to divert my son’s attention by buying him new books and toys. It was difficult at first, but over time, he had less interest in watching TV. Still, I allowed him to watch for an half-an-hour so that he doesn’t feel deprived.
When asked about the TV addiction of her grandson, the mother-in-law of the above-mentioned respondent said:
I don’t think he has a TV addiction. Sometimes, he watches TV with us, but other times he just sits on the floor and plays.
Another mother who was interviewed revealed an incident about outside food. She said:
Both I and my husband work in the IT sector and have to spend at least 8 hours before the laptop. Though my mother-in-law undertakes most of the cooking, I try to help her whenever I can. One weekend, I didn’t want to cook and hence, ordered outside food. My in-laws reacted negatively against this and there was an outburst from my side.
When interviewed about the same incident, her mother-in-law revealed:
I understand that my daughter-in-law works from home and so it is not possible for her to cook. If she was tired during the weekend, she could have told me and I would have done the cooking. We don’t prefer outside food as it is rich and not suited for aged and the children.
These two incidents clearly highlight the fact that both generations have different ways of looking at screen time and other apparently trivial issues such as meal timings, choice of vegetables and outside food. However, in majority of the cases, both parties chose to negotiate, instead of directly indulging in conflict. Also, all of them agreed that considering the physical and mental stress all of them are facing, it is natural to have outbursts once in a while. The interviews further revealed that in most of the situations, once the initial outburst subsided, both parties attempted to understand each other’s point of view though in some cases they believed that their point of view or actions were right.
Overlapping of Childcare Responsibilities at Home
Another unprecedented challenge that the pandemic created was an overlapping of domestic responsibilities at home, including childcare. Before the pandemic era, parents and grandparents had clear-cut responsibilities regarding childcare. The most common pattern that existed in the majority of Indian households is that the parents take care of the child when they are present at home, while in their absence the grandparents look after them. In some cases where the grandparents are fragile or unable to take care of their grandchildren for various reasons, the parents might also keep an ‘ayah’ or a nanny to look after the child when they are not present. The COVID crisis, however, messed up the entire system that had existed for years.
A working mother stated:
I had rejoined office after my maternity break was over. Just before the pandemic started, we decided to temporarily shift to my in-laws place at Kolkata. While I had earlier lived with my in-laws, but this was a completely new experience for me. I was working from home, but my in-laws perceived me as ‘free’ and expected to share their household duties. Sometimes, I had office meetings in the evening and expected my in-laws to look after the child. Though they didn’t refuse, they did not try engaging the child, with the result that he would often barge in my room and disrupt the meeting.
Another grandmother who was used to spending a lot of time with her grandson earlier said:
My son and daughter-in-law (switched to a part-time job) started working from home during the lockdown. For me, this means that I can no longer spend quality time with my grandson because my daughter-in-law insists on making his breakfast, feeding and helping him with his homework. I do spend some time with my grandson, but we can no longer do the fun activities that we used to do earlier.
The interviews highlighted the fact that when the pandemic started and people were forced to stay at homes, there was a confusion regarding who would take up what responsibilities. While in some families women were expected to take up full-time household and childcare responsibilities even though they had professional commitments, assuming the major burden of the entire childcare responsibility by the middle generation sometimes had negative repercussions on the grandparents. This was because in such a situation they could not spend much time with the grandchild, resulting in loneliness, despair and a feeling of hopelessness.
Major Findings and Conclusion
It is true that the COVID-19 global pandemic has created large-scale macro-level changes that occurred in rapid succession. But at the same time, it has brought in revolutionary and occasionally invisible changes in the functioning of our daily lives as well, especially those related to childcare. In the Indian context, apart from parents, grandparents have also been recipients of this unexpected childcare distress because it is common for Indians belonging to different generations to live under the same roof and share a common kitchen, making them go through the same harrowing experience. Interestingly, the interviews revealed that with their own rich life experiences, a broader vision of the future and a positive outlook, the grandparents felt that this is a phase that would not last forever. The other major findings from the interviews are discussed below:
Willingness to Cope with the Sudden Changes
While the pandemic has forced grandparents to take on a greater share of the caregiving burden, most of them have been willing to deal with these unexpected challenges for the sake of the welfare of their children and grandchildren. They have experienced several challenges on the way but they have been willing to face them with enthusiasm and a positive outlook.
Existence of Multiple Challenges
The interviews also revealed occasional clashes between the middle and senior generations over various issues. However, a positive aspect was that both the parents and grandparents were flexible enough to resolve their personal differences. This was probably due to the fact that, unlike previous generations, elderly heading the joint families are no longer rigid about certain things. Rather, they are open to discussions and comparatively flexible in their approach.
More Involved Grandparenting
The interviews also reaffirmed the fact that next to parents, grandparents can be the best caregivers for children, especially very small ones. Regarding the coping strategies it was found that each family had their own coping strategies. Even within the same family, the coping strategies changed from time to time, depending on the kind of situation they were in.
Qualitative Contribution of Grandparents
The pandemic has once again brought forward the fact that the contribution of grandparents is not merely limited to caring for their grandchildren. They act as crucial socialising agencies by spending a lot of time with kids, thereby guiding and inculcating the right values in them (The Royal Children’s Hospital Melbourne, 2010). Modern-day grandparents also share active pursuits with grandchildren, such as, reading books, going to parks, and educating them about nature, thus acting as positive role models. Finally, grandparents also provide the family with emotional and financial support, in case of a crisis.
The pandemic has thrown challenges that did not exist before. With the shutting down of educational institutions, crèches and unavailability of nannies, childcare has been one of the toughest challenges that parents could face. However, the presence of grandparents has been a boon for most of the working parents as they could share the load. Grandparenting, it is said, is parenting for the second time, without the involvement of excessive responsibilities. While this might not have been true for grandparents who had to put almost everything at stake during the COVID-19 crisis for helping the next generations, it is important to acknowledge their presence and contributions in sailing through this pandemic that has changed the world forever.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
The author declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.
Funding
The author received no financial support for the research, authorship and/or publication of this article.