Do your children have grandparents/great-grandparents still living?
My sons are 7 and 10. I'm 36. I'm lucky enough to (still) have two grandparents (Dad's mum, nearly 90, and Mum's dad, 86) still living. And, importantly for the boys, they are still active. Both of them have travelled from Canberra to Melbourne this weekend to attend my nephew's Baptism.
Grandma has four great-grandsons (10, 7, 2, newborn) and three great-granddaughters (4, 4, 2). Not bad for a 90 year old.
Granddad has six great-grandsons (10, 8, 7, 6, 2 and newborn) and three great-granddaughters (13, 11 and 2). Not bad for an 86 year old.
I think with the aging population, our children are more likely to have great-grandparents still living, however with the increased maternal ages (generality of course) it's more likely that people in their 70s and 80s are just becoming grandparents. At my boys' school, most parents of the 10yos are in their mid-late 40s, so the grandparents would be at least in their mid-late 60s, (but mostly 70s) so great-grandparents are incredibly rare.
Are you lucky enough to still have grandparents? Do your children have great-grandparents? How old are they?
Yes, my kids are lucky enough. They are very close to their 3 great grandmothers. I am so thankful we all had kids young and they got to experience that, and will for a while yet. Their great grandparents on my side are in their mid 70's. They also had 2 great great grandmothers alive when they were born, and one is still alive now (in her 90's).
We have one great nana still alive on my side and great grandma and grand pop on hubby's side. We have both of our parents still around and only my parents and great nana are active in our sons lives.
DH and I are only 23 my parents are in their mid 40s and all 4 of my grandparents are alive and kicking and in their early 70s my great grandad died in 2009 at the ripe age of 94 so DS1 was only 1 year off having a great great grandad!! Dh only has one nana living so all up my kiddies have 5 out of 8 great grandparents
My kids have all 4 grandparents, and 1great grandmother who is turning 90 next month.
My dad lives with us, and they see my inlaws at least once a year, my mum when she bothers to acknowledge us and my nan at least once a year. She is still very active and comes to us each Christmas for a few weeks.
I just recently lost one gran but my other is still living. DH has list his dad but all other parents are still alive too. So my kids have theee grandparents and one great grandmother.
I still have a Grandma about (almost 92) and DH has his Nan also (maybe 88) - so DD & DS have two great-grandma's - only recently lost DH's other Grandma at 92. My Great-Grandma lived to 103 - and I think my 92 year old Grandma is likely to close to her mum's record - she lives in Darwin so has advantage of climate over her mum who was in Cardiff.
My Grandma has 16 great grandchildren - the oldest is 17 the youngest a couple of months - I think she might make it to being a great-great grandma. She had eight children though (although 3 of them have had no children).
DH's nan - has 3 great grandchildren - soon to be 4 - but she only had one child - so they are both doing pretty well. Both are also still pretty active - but my Grandma can't cope with change of heat from Darwin to travel to Melbourne and DH's nan would love to come to Australia but MIL won't let her.
Our girls (5,3,1) have three grandparents (both dh's parents, and my mum, although she does not have a role in our lives, so maybe she doesnt count)
Then they have three great grandparents alive. dh's gran is 90-something, and I have my pop who us 86, and my nan who is 90. We travel to see dh's gran a fair bit. But my pop I talk to every now and then, but rarely. My nan, I havent seen her in about 3yrs, we never had a relationship growing up, so its hard now trying to start a new relationship when she doesnt seem like shes interested.
I completely agree with you about increasing maternal/paternal age meaning people will be grandparents later. I am hoping it doesn't happen to me! Because it comes down to not only my decisions, but my children's and grandchildren's.
Eg. You have a big family! I have a similar grandparent situation - one Papa and one Nana. But DD is Nana's only great-grandchild, and she's only Papa's second. This is despite my grandparents and parents having children quite young. I'm 28 so don't think I'm having children late, but on Nana's side she only has two other grandchildren, they're both younger than me and neither are at all ready for kids yet. On Papa's side, he has four other grandchildren, two older and two younger than me. The other great-grandchild was purely an accident and no others are planned any time in the future. So I think my kids and I are it for a while for my family!
For the inlaws, FIL will be 73 in October. DH has no grandparents, and I worry that DD won't know her grandparents well, or long. FIL did have four boys from a previous marriage, two of whom have kids, and then SIL has two older kids 11 & 13. But still, for now we're kind of it, no others planned.
I'm more sad that it seems as though my kids won't have cousins to grow up with.
My parents and DH's parents (and step-parents) aren't looking to leave anytime soon, but all my grandparents have died now My Nan and Pa M had died by the time we had Ianto, my Nan C died when I was about eight weeks with Amelia, and my Pa C died when she was seven months. I'm not 100% sure on all of DH's grandparents/step-grandparents, but I know at least his dad's dad is gone and his dad's mum isn't. We don't speak to her anyway, so she's only met Amelia once or twice. His mum and stepdad haven't met her at all, and neither have any of his many siblings. I think one of his brothers died, I don't know much about his dad's other sons.
I never met any of my great-grandparents.
ETA: By the time my Pa C died, though, he and Nan had 13 grandchildren, 19 great-grandchildren, and four great-great grandchildren. My brothers and I were the youngest grandkids on that side, and coupled with the fact my oldest cousins started having kids early, then their own kids started having kids... They at least have a lot of descendants Not that I view some of them as "worthy" of carrying the bloodline on though
Last edited by TeniBear; July 28th, 2013 at 08:05 PM.
My nan died before I was born, my pappa died when I was 8, my nanna and my pop both died when I was 19 so unless I had kids before I had finished school none would have met their great-grandparents. DPs dad died before our kids were born so they never met their grandpa either.
My boys don't have any great grandparents. My maternal grandparents passed away before I was born. My Dad's parents both died in the 1990's within a couple of years of each other. We lost DH's paternal grandparents fairly recently, his grandmother in 2010 and his grandfather just last year. His Mum's parents died before I met DH but I'm not sure what year.
My father died a long time ago, he was only 36 when he died suddenly in 1988 (coincidently my son Moo was born on the 21 year anniversary, almost to the hour!). My mother is 62.
My mum had me in her late 30's and then I had my girls in the first half of my 30's. So by the time I had my girls, my mother was early 70's and dementia had set in. She died not long after DD2 was born.
My father is still going, will be 80 next year, but unlikely he will make it. I only had one Nanna when growing up.
DH's family is much younger. His mum, so the girls Grandma is still early 60's and able to be quite active in their lives when she visits. Her partner is a bit younger and he gets called Grandpa. DH's father is mid 60's, he flits around the world is not much in the girls lives. DH's grandparents are still going, late 80's now I think. So pretty thankful for DH's side being on the younger side.
My kids have one great grandmother living. Their great grandfather died last year, and one great grandmother the year before. They had a very special relationship with my nanna. She lived up the road, they called in to her house ever day after school for afternoon tea.
When DS was born DH had 1 grandparent and both parents alive, I had 3 grandparents and both parents. (DH was 24 and I was 18)
When DD was born it didn't change for DH but I only had 1 parent alive and all 3 of my grandparents died soon after DD was born. (DH was 28 and I was 22)
They have my mum my plus my step father, DH's parents and his grandmother. We live 10hrs (driving) from mum and her partner but mum calls 3-4 times a week and see them 2-3 times a year. DH's parents now only live 1.5hrs away but have usually lived 6-10+ hours away, they haven't put in any effort fom day one but seem to be putting a little in now. His grandmother has also pretty much done her own thing and we use to travel 8hrs to see her 1-2 times a year but she's now only 2-3 hours away and see her maybe 4-5 times a year but don't really have any other contact with her.
We don't have the big family thing even though DH has 4 siblings, they just not seem to be that kind of people. It's a shame because I grew up with lots of aunties and uncles, cousins and Sunday roasts at nan and pops, I really am sad they don't have that.
I was fortunate enough to have a great grandparent alive until I was in my early 20's (and had quite a close relationship with her in my later teens until she passed away). I lost one grandfather when I was a baby but my nan remarried, so to me, he was the only grandfather I knew on that side. I lost my maternal grandparents when I was 14 and 20, and paternal grandparents (nan and step pop) at 26 and 28.
My heart hurts for dd that she won't have those relationships. She has my folks, who live local and she sees a lot, but even I never got to meet dh's parents and I hurt for her that she doesn't have that. And for dh for not being able to share our princess with them...
The girls have both sets of grandparents (incl my step parents) aswell as mums mum, dads mum, stepdads mum & step mums mum & dad aswell as FIL's mum who recently turned 91.
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Do your children have grandparents/great-grandparents still living?
My Nan and Pa M had died by the time we had Ianto, my Nan C died when I was about eight weeks with Amelia, and my Pa C died when she was seven months. I'm not 100% sure on all of DH's grandparents/step-grandparents, but I know at least his dad's dad is gone and his dad's mum isn't. We don't speak to her anyway, so she's only met Amelia once or twice. His mum and stepdad haven't met her at all, and neither have any of his many siblings. I think one of his brothers died, I don't know much about his dad's other sons.
Not that I view some of them as "worthy" of carrying the bloodline on though
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