Featured In Parent Dish Magazine – Are Grandparents Always The Help You Want Them To Be?

Dr Johnson our Child Psychologist features in Parent Dish article “Are grandparents always the help you want them to be?”
With more parents than ever before working fulltime Grandparents are getting involved in long term childminding. Dr Johnson discusses how to manage this, sometime stressful relationship between parent and grandparent.
Dr Rachel Johnson Suggests within the feature:

Johnson suggests these guidelines as a starting point for a family discussion:• Your parenting styles: are you firm but fair, strict or laid back? If you and your parents are poles apart how can you find some middle ground?

• Smacking or not? Do you believe in physical punishments, or not? If not, what are the consequences if your child misbehaves?

• Are boundaries applied right across the board? For example, if you have said no TV today, does that mean none at the grandparents as well?

• How much television is allowed? For example, you may allow your child to watch TV only after they have done all their homework.

• What rewards do you give for good behaviour?

• What bedtimes do you want for your child? Can they stay up later if there is no school the following day?

• What is your policy on sweets and other treats?

• What is your policy on food? Are you a stickler for healthy food all of the time, or can you be flexible if your children are eating elsewhere?

• Do grandparents understand if your child isn’t allowed certain foods for medical reasons? Are they tempted to offer them ‘just a small amount’ of something they should not be eating, as a treat, without realising the consequences?

Grandparents and your extended family can be a huge help, but honest communication in advance is essential if you are both to get the best out of it, and not end up with a child who is confused by conflicting boundaries.