Age-old advice

Just become a grandparent for the first time? Perhaps you need a little guidance, so here are some top tips about how to embrace your new family role

- Kate Jones

Becoming a grandparent is a big milestone, and if you’re about to welcome your first grandchild or have just done so, you might be wondering how you can get grandparenting right.

Fortunately, there’s no one way to be a fantastic grandparent, according to the charity Age UK – instead, “it’s about finding the balance that works best for your family.” After all, parenthood doesn’t come with a manual, so why should grandparenthood have to?

According to the charity Independent Age, the experience of being a grandparent varies between families. A person’s relationship with their grandchildren might be influenced by how close they live to them, the amount of time they can devote to being with them and their relationship with the child parenting the grandchildren, as well as whether the grandparent’s child and their partner are on good terms.

“It’s a good idea to think about how things might work in advance and discuss this with the parents,” Independent Age advises. While there are no hard and fast rules to grandparenting, there are steps you can take to help things run more smoothly.