Issues of grandparents raising grandchildren Essay

Abstract This paper explores research regarding the impacts on grandparents and grandchildren when the grandparent assumes the parental role because of some type of parental fall through. The articles find that the financial aspect of raising grandchildren in your later years is quite costly as well is the negative health problems the stress of the situation can cause. This paper mainly looks at Baldock’s (2007) research on the affects of every aspect of the new situation on the grandparents and grandchildren. Baldock (2007) and the other research used for this paper all suggest that there are multiple struggles that the grandparents will endure when raising their grandchildren. Issues of Grandparents Raising Grandchildren The clichà © life of a grandparent is usually thought of as taking the grandchildren to the zoo, baking cookies, and making crafts. Grandparents are also around to share their wisdom and experiences with the younger generation, however in today’s society the amount of grandparents having to take in their grandchildren due to an issue in the biological parents’ lives has been on the increase for years (Baldock, 2007, p. 70). This change of role for the grandparents can have various affects on not only the grandparents but the grandchildren as well. There are many reasons as to why grandparents come into the situation where they need to take their grandchildren into their care such as teenage pregnancy, parental abuse, and parental drug and alcohol abuse. No matter how the grandparents come into obtaining their grandchildren each family have their own types of struggles they will have to deal with. Both the grandparents and grandchildren can go through multiple financial, health, and behavioral issues that can either bring the family out on top or hurt them, but many are choosing to overcome the difficulties and persevere through them. Literature Review There are many troubles in today’s society with drugs, alcohol, and violence, all which are just a few of the reasons that many parents become unable to properly care for their children. These and many other circumstances are which have led to â€Å"approximately 2.4 million grandparents [being] responsible for raising their grandchildren, many in households without the parents present.† (Poehlmann et al., 2008, 165) The decision to undertake the responsibility of raising your grandchildren is a big one to make, however many times there is no decision to make because the children would end up in the foster care system if it weren’t for the grandparents. In a study completed in Australia about grandparent run homes, â€Å"of the 31,000 children living with their grandparents, 28,700 children’s biological parents lived elsewhere.† (Baldock, 2007, p. 71) This can make the strain of raising your grandchild even more difficult because of the emotional and financial burdens it may cause. Health Quality of Custodial Grandparents There have been various studies in which they have found that grandparents who take care of their grandchildren have mental and physical aspects of themselves that are in a disarray (Neely-Barnes, Graft, & Washington, 2010, p. 87). The role of being a custodial grandparent is difficult not only because it is a new situation which they need to adjust to, but it can also cause physical and mental problems. The situation cause a lot of new emotions and stressors that â€Å"numerous studies have documented elevated rates of depression, parenting stress, health problem, and economic hardship among custodial grandparents.† (Poehlmann et al., 2008, p. 168) Many grandparents are well in their sixty’s and so â€Å"when the children arrive, grandparents are unlikely to be prepared for the dramatic and often sudden changes caused by unplanned parenthood.† (Baldock, 2007, p. 73) The grandparents generally see an increase in health related problems because they are put into a situation where they need to focus on the care of their grandchildren which leads to the grandparents’ health and well-being coming second and in which â€Å"custodial grandparents report worse self-assessed health than noncaregiving grandparents, particularly in the areas of physical functioning, bodily pain, role functioning, social functioning, and general health perception.† (Neely-Barn es et al., 2010, p. 88) Not only are the grandparents not being able to properly maintain their own health, but â€Å"among custodial grandparents, higher levels of depression have been found among unmarried grandparents who were not working.† (p. 88) This new parenting role that the grandparents are put into also effects their social life; â€Å"in one study, half of custodial grandparents reported that they felt isolated from friends in their age group due to their caregiving responsibilities.† (p. 88) Grandparents usually feel worn out by the amount of extra responsibilities they have come to take on which can make them feel worried when they think about having many more years of having to take care of their grandchildren. This type of constant worrying and stress can become quite a negative thing both for the grandparent and grandchild because â€Å"grandparents who are stressed are more likely to become depressed.† (Baldock, 2007, p. 73) Financials When grandparents are put into the situation of bringing their grandchildren into their care, one of the most difficult issues they have to deal with is the financial aspect of raising the children. The financial aspect of raising the grandchildren can be so hard to handle because many of the grandparents are older and even retired which means limited income. â€Å"In around one third of grandparent families (34%), one of both grandparents were employed, while 62% received a government pension, allowance or other benefit as their primary income.† (Baldock, 2007, p. 71) Children are expensive to raise because of the extra clothing, food, and home resources that are used. The grandparents are used to and comfortable with their current lifestyle and then when the unexpected young grandchildren are brought into the picture this can make the once sufficient income turn into financial instability. Grandparents going through legal proceedings can also be another reason finances are put into a bind when the need to take in your grandchildren is needed because â€Å"grandparents are commonly ineligible for legal aid and consequently face disadvantage in proceedings† (Baldock, 2007, p. 72). One way that is used to try to gain some type of extra income for the grandchildren is by â€Å"formalising their parenting role through legal proceedings [which] can be the only way grandparents are able to access financial support.† (p. 72) The cost of providing for their grandchildren and all of the court related procedures needed to be done becomes such a burden that â€Å"some grandparents have mortgaged their homes to undertake legal proceedings.† (p. 72) Impacts on the Family The result of custodial grandparents not only effects just the grandparents and grandchildren, but the whole family. The strain of raising grandchildren can be felt in the children of the grandparents â€Å"some felt resentful that their parent’s energy was going into raising their grandchildren and their own children missed out on a relationship with their grandparents.† (Baldock, 2007, p. 72) In many families the reason that the grandparents need to raise their grandchildren is due to some type of addiction from the birth parents. This drug use can cause emotional and social problems in the grandparents and grandchildren which can make the â€Å"grandparents†¦feel blamed or express a sense of responsibility for their own children’s drug use.†(p. 73) Grandparents often feel as though there was something they could have done to prevent their children’s drug abuse which in turn would have prevented the need for them to raise their grandchildren. This feeling of â€Å"blame and shame exacerbate social isolation and increase psychological anxiety experienced by grandparents and their grandchildren.† (p. 73) The effects on the grandchildren of not having their parent or parents around is difficult to for them to cope with because â€Å"children separated from their parents because of alcohol and other drugs frequently face psychological, emotional and sometimes physical problems.† (Baldock, 2007, p. 71) According to Day and Bazemore (2011: children living without their biological parents typically present with high rates of psychological problems. Yet, by comparison, adolescents living with grandparent caregivers have the lowest levels of both ‘internalizing problems’ (i.e. depressive symptoms, negative outlook, low self-esteem), and ‘externalizing problems’ (i.e. nonviolent delinquency, general violent tendencies, and substance abuse.† (p. 103) Position I have first hand experience in the struggles and issues that can arise from a grandparent having to put their lives on hold and take in their grandchildren in order to provide them a loving and stable home. My parents are currently in the process of adopting my two nephews whom they, as well as myself, have taken care of since they were born. My sister is in a rehabilitation program in Northern New Jersey for addiction to pills, cocaine, and heroin and has been in and out of trouble since her early teens. Growing up the way I did because of the situations and conditions that my sister made my family endure has shown me just how difficult and numerous the issues are when raising your grandchildren. My mother is sixty years old and my father is sixty-two, both having some health problems. Health problems associated with age can have a significant affect on how the grandparents are going to be able to act in their new role as caregivers because many grandparents are older and their health is declining. Taking care of a six and a nine year old can be mentally and physically exhausting. My nephews have many psychological issues because their mother is gone and father is hardly around, these emotional troubles of my nephews also effect me and parents too. My nephews have ADHD and are quite sensitive which makes it even more difficult to calm them down if they are feeling upset or angry because they are missing their mother. I find the emotional impact it has on the children and family to be the greatest because of my experience in knowing how difficult is to cope with the entire situation. The financial responsibility for taking grandchildren in can be quite detrimental to the grandparents because many are retired or only working part-time in order to make a little extra money. My father is retired which has made the raising of two new children quite difficult before they received any assistance from the state. While most families receive financial assistance through state and federal aid, there may be certain circumstances in which a family has to come up with the money themselves. Grandparents know how expensive children are because of their past experience in raising their own children, however times have changed and the cost of raising children has significantly increased. This financial burden put onto the grandparents is not a choice they make, but rather something they just have to endure because there is no other option for the grandchildren. Afterthoughts It is obvious that grandparents who have to bring their grandchildren into their home and raise them because of varying circumstances will inevitably face numerous amount of hardships and issues. The grandparents being older makes the task of raising their grandchildren difficult, along with the cost involved in raising them and the legal proceedings that are done in order to protect the children. While the hardships of custodial grandparents is plenty, many â€Å"who have attended support groups say that it has made a positive difference in their lives† (Baldock, 2007, p.73), which can help them to cope with the new situations they are being placed in. Even though raising grandchildren comes with multiple and varying issues that make it difficult to do, â€Å"grandparents who are raising their grandchildren consistently report that the experience adds joy and meaning to their lives and provides them with companionship and a purposeful social and familial role.† (Kropf ; Burnette, 2003, p. 363)

First Great Awakening essays

First Great Awakening essays The First Great Awakening was an immense religious revival in the English colonies. The Puritan churchgoers, especially, became bored with sermons that were too complex and dull for them to understand or care about. Worshippers began to question the churches beliefs. However, in the 1734, Jonathon Edwards began the First Great Awakening. This event was extremely important to the people and united them together for the first time, moving the colonists closer to the war for independence. In addition to the complex sermons, the Puritans also had strict membership requirements, which limited the amount of people in their church. They could not get enough people to join the church and lost many who were members. Also, Jacobus Arminius preached that there was no such thing as predestination, and he believed that a person's use of free will determined their fate. Because of these multiple pressures, many religions began to loose their beliefs and spirit. At this time the First Great Awakening swept through the colonies. It began in Northampton, Massachusetts, by Jonathon Edwards. Edwards was extraordinarily intelligent, but he also had the ability to communicate with the people in a way that made his sermons interesting. He countered Arminius by saying that good works did not save a man from damnation but that complete dependence upon God did. Four years after Edwards, Englishman George Whitefield began a new style of preaching. He had an amazing ability to deliver speeches to the point where even Edwards began to cry. During his speeches, many people converted and the "saved" groaned and cried. Many imitators began to preach like Whitefield. The colonies soon became united under the revival; they began calling themselves Americans for the first time. This was an important step toward the uniting of the colonies and the thought of revolution. However, not everyone was happy with the new style of religion. Ortho...

Free Essays on The Awakening Reaction

My Reaction to The Awakening Honestly, I felt kind of stifled throughout the whole book. I always felt as if Edna was on the verge of something great but could never quite get there. It’s as if she kept taking me two steps forward and then one step backward, starting with her first experience of being able to go out into the water and swim on her own. This was a pivotal point in the story. She realizes how it easy it is and then admonishes herself for all the time she had wasted before, â€Å"splashing about like a baby!† (Chopin,Ch X) Then when she turns around and looks toward shore, the distance she’d just traveled now seems like a great feat she might not be able to overcome on the way back. Later that night when she first defies her husband by staying out in the hammock, I thought, â€Å"Ok, she’s standing up for herself.† And she does but only to a certain extent because she tires and ends up going back to bed before her husband, who stays up finishing his cigar. I realize that Edna’s awakening is a process and that it’s not one to come all at once, but yet I still feel like Chopin, although posing a controversial subject in this book, was still holding back. Throughout the whole novel it’s like that. Edna steps forward and then backwards. She falls for Robert but doesn’t fully realize it until he leaves for Mexico. When she’s back in New Orleans she stops receiving visitors and then moves out. But yet when her father arrives she takes him to Adele’s and enjoys making sure he’s having a good time, or so it seems. When Edna tells Mademoiselle Reisz her reason for moving into the pigeon house, she says it’s because she’s tired of looking after the big house. Mademoiselle Reisz has to get Edna to admit her real reason is because she wants to be independent. Edna can’t even begin to really open herself fully, not even to Mademoiselle Reisz. It seems like Edna is trapped in this never-ending quest for fre... Free Essays on The Awakening Reaction Free Essays on The Awakening Reaction My Reaction to The Awakening Honestly, I felt kind of stifled throughout the whole book. I always felt as if Edna was on the verge of something great but could never quite get there. It’s as if she kept taking me two steps forward and then one step backward, starting with her first experience of being able to go out into the water and swim on her own. This was a pivotal point in the story. She realizes how it easy it is and then admonishes herself for all the time she had wasted before, â€Å"splashing about like a baby!† (Chopin,Ch X) Then when she turns around and looks toward shore, the distance she’d just traveled now seems like a great feat she might not be able to overcome on the way back. Later that night when she first defies her husband by staying out in the hammock, I thought, â€Å"Ok, she’s standing up for herself.† And she does but only to a certain extent because she tires and ends up going back to bed before her husband, who stays up finishing his cigar. I realize that Edna’s awakening is a process and that it’s not one to come all at once, but yet I still feel like Chopin, although posing a controversial subject in this book, was still holding back. Throughout the whole novel it’s like that. Edna steps forward and then backwards. She falls for Robert but doesn’t fully realize it until he leaves for Mexico. When she’s back in New Orleans she stops receiving visitors and then moves out. But yet when her father arrives she takes him to Adele’s and enjoys making sure he’s having a good time, or so it seems. When Edna tells Mademoiselle Reisz her reason for moving into the pigeon house, she says it’s because she’s tired of looking after the big house. Mademoiselle Reisz has to get Edna to admit her real reason is because she wants to be independent. Edna can’t even begin to really open herself fully, not even to Mademoiselle Reisz. It seems like Edna is trapped in this never-ending quest for fre...

Best Swedish Schools to study interior design

Best Swedish Schools to study interior design Studying Interior Design in Sweden Interior design is one of the modern streams within the educational specialization variety. People are interested in living in beautiful and extraordinary apartments. More and more of young people try to fulfill their potential and creativity in developing interior design. Modern materials and settings enable designers to arrange unique and superb design, saturated with varieties of colors and forms, making the house or office a comfortable and aesthetic place for living, working or entertainment. To be an interior designer is not simply to furnish the room and allocate decorative components within the living or working space. To become mature in this sphere, one should have profound skills in drawing, color perception, taste, know interior design styles and be able to embody all this stuff in the practice. Today interior designer can hardly work without knowing corresponding computer programs for creating drafts and sketches for their customers. So as you see, studying to acquire designer degree is rather labor-consuming activity, which requires great effort. Besides your efforts, it is important to select a nice school, which can become your guide into the world of design and provide necessary qualification for your future carrier. In regard to interior design a lot of people trust their training to Swedish schools and universities. Great amount of educational institutions in Sweden with brilliant reputation can become the access for your professional carrier as a designer. Umeà ¥ Institute of Design This university provides training of the specialists in the direction of industrial design and offers five academic programs for its students. To acquire a Bachelor degree at this university one needs to pass the three-year training program. The great advantage is that education in this university is free. The education is provided only in Swedish, which can be considered as a drawback. The university also offers three international programs for obtaining Master degree. Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design This institution is one of the biggest Swedish schools, which provides training in design, arts and crafts. Almost 900 students come at the university each year to receive Bachelor and Master degrees. This school has great educational and research facilities, numerous workshops, which enable students to develop their practical skills in painting, weaving, ceramics and sculpture. HDK School of Design and Crafts HDK School of Design and Crafts provides great opportunities of training. You can undertake a short or a long term course in the school, according to your needs and circumstances. The school arranges exhibitions all the time, where students can participate. And that is a great opportunity to present your works for the potential customers and to receive first experience while studying. They offer a PhD program in design and arts. All information about start time of the courses and time when you can enroll for them is available at their website. KKH Royal Institute of Art This school has a great number of Swedish students, but it also welcomes the students from other countries. Due to well-equipped workshops, they welcome also the students with disabilities. The institute offers one-year guest program in fine arts, three-year Bachelor program, two-year Master program and PhD program for their student. This school also offers such courses as Restoration Art, Architecture Art and Architecture. The institute directs their students to development of practical skills along with the research work, which is motivated by well-arranged educational facilities. Apparently, Swedish design schools represent a great training opportunity for those, who do not want just to admire beautiful things and pieces of art, but for those, who want to create them. If you want to make your mark within the interior design sphere, do your best to take care of the appropriate education, which will spread your wings of creativity and success.

Supply Chain Innovations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Supply Chain Innovations - Essay Example IT can also be deemed to be a pull’ (demand) determined inventory system where sub-assemblies, support items, parts and materials are conveyed just when required and neither later or sooner. Its main goal is to eradicate product inventories from chain of supply. As much as an inventory system as a managerial system, JIT covers all activities needed to produce a final product beginning from engineering design onwards to the final manufacturing operation (Radhakrishnan, 2001). Materials requirement planning (MRP) on the other hand is a system of planning and control of inventory that is mostly utilized in the management of the manufacturing processes. Several MRP systems are usually soft-ware based even though MRP can also be performed by use of hand as well. The main aim of MRP system is; ensuring that materials are accessible for production and that products are accessible for transmission to customers, maintenance of lowest possible product and material level in store, planning manufacturing activities, purchasing activities and delivery schedules(Wisner,2012). Both MRP and JIT facilitate firms to make long term plans, which allow a manufacturer to make plans for facility and labor use more efficiently. Both systems assist in reduction of orders that are past-due and lead times (Rao, Krishna,

Consumer behavior of hk people towards ipad (tablets) Dissertation

Consumer behavior of hk people towards ipad (tablets) - Dissertation Example Organizations like Apple have managed to make a mark for themselves in the industry through the launch of innovative products like iPhones, pads and tablets. The market dynamics are driven by the growing consumer demand for hi-tech products that caters to their hectic schedules and supports multiple functionalities for extended usage. Consumers seek multiple functionalities and utilities in a single device that can provide them with extended connectivity and accessibility to desired applications. While market dynamics are strongly influenced by innovative products and services, the key to successful market presence lies in an in-depth understanding of consumer behaviour and attitudes that lead to the final purchase of the product. ... The research study offers an in-depth evaluation of consumer behaviour and attitudes driving the market for tablets and ipads in Hong Kong. 1. Introduction 1.1 Research context and background Marketing strategies and practices have evolved over the years to embrace new and innovative concepts in response to changes in the consumer behaviour and attitudes. Such strategic initiatives are aimed towards improved understanding of consumer behaviour and their perception of products in the market. Several research studies and academic works on consumer behaviour have established the significance of consumer attitudes and their purchase habits in stimulating demand for specific goods or services (Barnett, 2003; Patel and Schlijper, 2000; Liberman, Trope, and Wakslak, 2007). Consumer behaviour refers to the beliefs, perception and opinion of the consumer while making the purchase decision. Prior to globalization, the customer did not have much choice in terms of substitutes and alternatives a nd hence long term customer retention was not much of a problem for businesses. However, over the years, the globalised market environment has exposed the customers to a wide range of brands, substitutes and alternatives in the market. Customer purchase patterns have undergone a dramatic change in terms of brand loyalty and perception of goods and services in the market (OECD, 2011). Organizations are adapting to these changes through aggressive marketing strategies a significant part of which focuses on finding the pulse of the customer and tracing his behavioural pattern while making the purchase decision (Voinea and Filip, 2011). A recent study by Lauren Freedman (2011) on the shopping mindset of the mobile customer reveals that mobile devices

Social Stratification and Social Inequality Essay

Social Stratification and Social Inequality - Essay Example As compared to America, Japan is a much more patriarchal society which means that culturally, it would be difficult to find women as head or corporations or even on the directorial board of a company. Chieko (2001) reports that the position of women in the workforce is less than forty percent which is far lower than international standards. Women are seen to be fulfilling their duties in traditional roles rather than modern roles which are more acceptable in America. A quick examination for the American Fortune 500 list of companies shows that in 2003, women held 14% of board seats in various companies while they only had a 10% representation back in 1995. One in ten companies on the same list had 25% or more women on the boards (Lockwood, 2005). On the other hand, when it comes to Japan, the Asian Human Rights Commission (2001, Pg. 1) reports that, â€Å"The equality of men and women has not been fully achieved in practice, for the traditional concept that the woman is to stay at home is still deeply rooted†. Even when the women get to work, they face issues which are similar to the ones faced by American women workers. Of course the American women have some recourse in terms of legal action against sexual harassment at work but Japan has no law against sexual harassment. The Japanese government knows that there is a problem with sexual harassment since their own survey has shown that half of women working in Japan have faced sexual harassment. Some reports place the figure as high as 70% of women having faced sexual harassment since the majority do not report it (Asian Human Rights Commission, 2001). Perhaps the most significant problem for women in Japan comes from the way some Japanese laws may be structured to work against women. For example, if a woman reports that she was raped, she may have to prove with physical evidence that she resisted the rape. Other factors, such as the courts considering physical violence to be a natural