Spoiling Grand Kids

Well, I don't have grandchildren yet, but I do have nieces and nephews and children of my own. I think grandparents do it for all of the reasons you said, plus you want them to love you and think you are special. We want children to always look forward to seeing grandma and grandpa because grandpa and grandma always treat them special and give them lots of love. Grandparents are gifts to children. That is the way it should be as long as the child does not learn to take advantage of grandma and grandpa then it is time to pull back a bit, but grandparents are all about love and being special.

hello dbrorman, in my own opinion, some if not all grandparents are spoiling their grandchildren for they don't like that their daughter-in-law will get them wrong when they tend to discipline them. aside from that, they don't like to hurt or offend their daughter-in-law as well. for she might think that she is correcting how she discipline her/his child. and to avoid some misunderstanding they tend to spoiled them rather than correcting them. but if the mother is their daughter, then maybe they can be a little beat strict to them.

I think it’s a combination of all those….my own son has been raised first by my MIL and now by my own mom so I know how grandparents spoil their grandkids. Of course they want to do all those things which they could not do for their own kids due to various reasons (financial being a major one). Secondly, parents don’t really get much free time and opportunity to have fun with their growing kids…as grandparents they have a chance to do that. Thirdly, a grandparent is not an actual parent…so the responsibility part is certainly not there and in many cases, even if the grandparent feels that the child is being unusually unruly, he/she hesitates to discipline it for the fear of hurting the parent! It’s a fine balancing act coz I know of quite a few parents who feel that grandparents are out of sync with modern discipline techniques and so should keep to their ‘limits’ in finding fault with a child! Its not easy being a grandparent, I could sense that hesitation in my MIL though I always gave her a free rein…in any case, if the balance can indeed be maintained, then having a grandparent around is the best we can do for our kids. As parents, we can discipline them and when they go off crying, the grandparent can indulge them and bring back that smile. Also, elderly people (I’ve seen) connect better with kids and kids often tell their grandparent many things which they would hide from their parents!

No!I don't think you have spoiled her.Just you were lineant towards her in your visit.Just pouring out all the love and affection you failed to shower on your son when he was young.Yes!you have no responsibility to mould them is one of the main reason behind it.But that is not wrong.I think your grand daughter would have enjoyed the freedom with you.Cheers!

I think it's your job as a grand parent to spoil your grandkids.I think the reason why you do it is different for everybody.But have fun just being a good gran.

Hi dbrorman! I dont have grandchild yet but i guess its not only grandchildren we tend to spoil sometimes. Even if our own children. Maybe its because of the changing times, the lack of time of the parents for their children because both has to go to work. Grandparents they say are the best spoilers. Maybe they do this because they dont want to hurt their grandchildren. They want to show that they love them. But even though we love them we should also inculcate in them good values, attitudes and behavior.

it's very possible that we spoil them because when starting out having a family we dont get everything we would like to have, and we want to give our children the best of everything but sometimes that doesn't always happen so we tend to spoil the grandkids. i also think kids are pretty cool little people they always amaze me as to what they do, and how they accomplish what their trying to do. now, grandma and grandpa can always go home after spoiling them and we wont have to hear the why not's, our kids do and maybe thats some sort of payback for drivin us crazy lol... now its their turn.

dbrorman it is probably a mixture of all three things, make up for some fancied deprivation,or the thrill of not having to raise them, as once they go back home you are home freee yourself, or just because you love them and enjoy making them happy. i do not have any grandchildren as my son seems to be a bonafide batchelor and evidently will never marry,which it sad, but it is his discision. lol lol.

its grandparents job to spoil the grandchildren all of their kids are grown up, no more raising them and having to be 'the bad guy' who punishes them. The grandparents are liked no matter what. :D

Grandparents are simply the best. I loved my grandparents like you wont believe and I miss them so much. Grandparents spoil us us in so many ways because they love us. If you are a grandparent, you know what you are doing.

I'll make one thing clear: Grandchildren LOVE to be spoilt. Grandparents are always the ones who sneak around from our parents, giving us candy, lollies, money, clothes and doing all the things that parents say no to. Well, in most cases. There is a quote that says, "Grandparents are the ones who love us, spoil us, and then send us home" So don't worry about your grandaughter, you're probably doing a good job.