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Diversity Research and Interview Paper By: Christina Baker

The topic I will be discussing in my paper is the challenges grandparent-headed families face. I chose this topic because at the daycare I work at there are a lot of grandparent-headed families that I interact with throughout the day. Also, in my neighborhood and community I have realized that there are a lot of grandparentheaded families. One of the families in my neighborhood, the Williams family, has graciously agreed to be interviewed for this assignment. I am very close to the family however, I am unaware of the challenges that they face because they are a grandparent-headed family, which is why I chose them to interview.

In my interview with the Williams family, I learned about the challenges, routines, and ways the local schools and I can help support them. Ms. Williams explained that the two main challenges that Jimmy, the grandchild of Mr. and Mrs. Williams, experiences on a regular basis is separation issues and a difficult time falling asleep. After Jimmys mom left Jimmy wouldnt let Mr. and Mrs. Williams out of his sight, this made it difficult to drop him off at Sunday school and the daycare. During the night, Mrs. Williams explained how Jimmy would wake up crying and would repeat mommy over and over. The only way to calm him down was to lie down beside him and speak comforting words while rubbing his back. The Williams daily sched ule is straight forward and routine based. Getting Jimmy ready for school is pretty easy, the grandma said that he is a well-behaved boy who usually gets ready on his own, very

rarely will he be a hassle to get out the door. The grandma makes Jimmy breakfast and then packs his lunch, after doing this Jimmy should be changed and ready to go to school, which the grandpa drives him to before heading to his part time job. When Jimmy comes home from school its homework, playing outside and then dinnertime before bed. Mrs. Williams explains that one of the ways the daycare Jimmy goes to can support him is by having books on diverse families in the classroom or teaching a lesson on the different kinds of families. This way Jimmy can see that having grandparents as parents is all right and that he isnt the odd one out because of it. One of the challenges that the Williams family faces at the daycare is that the teachers have acted on the thought that since Jimmy does not have any parents, he does not have enough love and support at home. They can tend to baby him and correct him due to this fact. Mr. and Mrs. Williams believes that teachers should let the parents handle correcting their child as well as areas to baby him in. They love that the teachers are concerned about him they just wish that they would convey those concerns to them, so that they can let them know that they are supporting, loving and correcting him at home. There are two unique challenges that the Williams family conveyed to me during the interview. These challenges are emotional and social challenges. Mr. and Mrs. Williams explained to me how Jimmy feels abandoned by his parents and this would affect his emotional state during the day. They also explained to me how it can feel weird to be the only person in their group of friends who has a preschooler as a son. They love Jimmy and are glad that they get the chance to take care of him, but they just thought that this stage of life was over, so they are still trying to get use to it.

According to More U.S. Children Raised by Grandparents written by Paola Scommegna the number of children living with grandparents is steadily growing, which means that teachers especially need to become aware of how they can help and support these families in the classroom and outside of it. This website also clearly describes different issues that can arise for the caregiver and the children. Some of the stressors that were mentioned in the article are: strained relationship with birth parents, financial pressure and their personal aging-related health concerns. The article also describes how boys and girls can be different in the way that they handle the stress of having their grandparents as their mom and dad. Boys usually have externalizing behavior problems such as acting out or misbehaving, while girls usually have internalizing problems. This includes being anxious, depressed and fearful.

According to Challenges of Raising Grandchildren by Amanda Rumble there are four challenges that grandparents face when raising grandchildren. The first is the reasons behind custodial grandparenting. Grandparents usually chooses to raise their grandchild so that he or she wont be harmed anymore, by the current guardians, and wont go to the foster care system. The second challenge is legal. Grandparents may have to face a custody battle with the other set of grandparents or they may have legal issues in obtaining guardianship. The third challenge is financial. Grandparents usually live on a steady retirement income and having children to raise can be expensive. There are many additional costs that the grandparents have to consider when having custody of a child, no matter the age. The fourth and final challenge grandparents face is emotional and physical. Some grandparents may feel anger, resentment or sadness

toward their children for the behavior that resulted in the custody of the grandchildren and they may struggle with the physical part of raising their grandchildren. Children have a lot of energy and grandparents may not have enough energy to keep up with them. These challenges are universal and more than one can be hurting a grandparentheaded family. As a teacher, I need to be aware of these challenges so that I can help the child and serve the family.

According to Reasons Why Grandparents Raise Grandchildren by Candice Coleman there are four main reasons for grandparents to take custody of their grandchild. The first reason is incarceration. 1 in 50 children has a parent in ja il or prison because of violent crime, drug related offenses, domestic abuse or child abuse. The second reason is death or illness of parents. An ill parent will be unable to care for the child or children properly which means that the grandparent comes in a takes the place of the ill parent until the ill parent gets better. The third reason is teenage pregnancy. Grandparents will sometimes raise the grandchild while their son or daughter finishes school and gets a better job. This hopefully will lead to the parents raising their child again after a little while. The fourth and final reason is deployment or unemployment. Grandparents will gain custody of their grandchild if the parents are unemployed for a long period of time or is deployed by the military. I have seen and heard of all of these reasons because they are the reasons for a lot of the grandparentheaded families at the daycare I work at.

The core competency that best relates to grandparent-headed families is family and community relationships and developmentally appropriate practices based on knowledge of the social and cultural contexts in which children live. Teachers need to be aware of the family life of the children in their classroom, this means that they should know if its a single parent home, both parents or grandparent-headed home. Having this knowledge will help teachers relate better with the children, and it will also help the teacher figure out what to teach. Family life is very important to teachers because families are the ones that influence a child the most and to effectively teach a child, a teacher must know what influences him or her.

While writing this paper and conducting the interview I have learned a lot about the challenges grandparent-headed families face on a daily basis and how I was a teacher can help them and their children at the daycare or in the community. Through my research I have learned a lot of information about things that I have seen at the daycare I work at and challenges that grandparent-headed families face, such as emotional, physical, financial and legal challenges. I have also learned how to help the families by the research that I have conducted as well as the interview I had with the Williams family. I enjoyed talking to the grandparents about how teachers can help their family and other grandparent-headed families. Grandparent-headed families really need support and love. As teachers we should show them that we are here for them and their child or children.

I have learned that grandparent-headed families are just like any other family, so working with the family shouldnt be an issue. However, working with th e child may. Having parents who are absent from a childs life can emotionally harm a child. Teachers need to be aware of the signs that children may show if they are having a hard time dealing with the fact that their parents are gone. These signs may be anger, a need for control, clinging, or depressed. Once teachers realize these signs they could create a cozy corner when the child needs to calm down or be a listening ear or a hand to hold when he or she becomes clinging or depressed.

References:

1) http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2012/US-children-grandparents.aspx

2) http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/challenges-raising-grandchildren-6436.html

3) http://everydaylife.globalpost.com/reasons-grandparents-raise-grandchildren3257.html

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