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The Grandparent Trap: The reality of modern grandparenting

Posted on by Carmen Myler

Grandparenting can be intense. Maggie joined ABC Radio National’s Life Matters program to talk about the reality of being a grandparent today.

Here’s their description of the show:

Grandparents are more enmeshed in their grandchildren’s lives than ever.

You’re doing school drop-offs. You’re filling in the daycare gaps. You might even be helping out with school fees.

It’s like the unconditional love and care you had for your own kids never stopped, you just kept it rolling once your grandchildren arrived.

But it’s not without tension. Close to three in five grandparents say their grandparenting style doesn’t always match what’s expected of them, and running around after a six-year-old is much more exhausting at 65 than when you did it the first time around at 25.

The reality is grandparenting in 2026 can be intense. And while the rewards are rich there are responsibilities you maybe never saw coming. So every week in July, Life Matters is exploring what it is to be a modern grandparent in our special series: The Grandparent Trap.

Guests:

  • Maggie Dent, parenting author, resilience specialist and nanny to her eight grandkids
  • Dr Liz Allen, demographer and senior lecturer at the Australian National University, currently working on a comprehensive history of grandparenting in Australia

You can listen to the full episode via ABC Listen here.

 

 

 

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