Early Child Development and Care

ISSN: 0300-4430 (Print) 1476-8275 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/gecd20

Turkish grandmothers’ experiences of caring for

their grandchildren: a qualitative study

Fatma Tezel Şahin & Betül Kübra Şahin

To cite this article: Fatma Tezel Şahin & Betül Kübra Şahin (2018): Turkish grandmothers’
experiences of caring for their grandchildren: a qualitative study, Early Child Development and
Care, DOI: 10.1080/03004430.2018.1469487

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2018.1469487

Published online: 03 May 2018.

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EARLY CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND CARE
https://doi.org/10.1080/03004430.2018.1469487

Turkish grandmothers’ experiences of caring for their

grandchildren: a qualitative study
Fatma Tezel Şahina and Betül Kübra Şahin b

a
School of Education, Division of Preschool Education, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey; bReşadiye Vocational School,
Child Care and Youth Services Department, Gaziosmanpaşa University, Tokat, Turkey

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

Grand motherhood is in some sense a universal role but its meaning varies Received 25 February 2018
greatly across countries and cultures: for instance, in terms of how Accepted 23 April 2018
grandmothers are involved in their grandchildren’s lives. Therefore, this
KEYWORDS
study examines 40 women’s experiences of caring for their grandchildren Grandmothers;
in Turkey. Data were collected through a semi-structured Grandmother grandchildren; experiences
Interview Protocol designed by the researchers, and content analysis
conducted to establish concepts and relationships that explained the
data. The sampled grandmothers usually used positive expressions to
describe caring for their grandchildren. Half said they had decided for
themselves to take on this role, while the other half reported that this
decision was taken jointly with the children’s parents, or in response to a
sense of obligation. Nearly all the grandmothers stated that they mostly
did caring activities with their grandchildren during the day. Half said that
caring for their grandchildren did not affect them, while the other half
said it influenced them either positively or negatively. When the
participants talked about the strategies they used to raise their
grandchildren, they focused on the differences and similarities between
the practices of their own and their grandchildren’s parents, as well as on
the details of their own practices as mothers and grandmothers. More
than half of the grandmothers in this study said they received support
from people around them as they raised their grandchildren.

Introduction
The family is the primary environment in which a child’s life is shaped, in terms of his/her understand-
ing of society and resultant self-organization in light of its rules and expectations (Halpenny, Nixon, &
Watson, 2010; Tuncer, Sak, & Şahin-Sak, 2017). Experience in the family environment, and of adults’
attitudes towards the child, are thus at the centre of the child’s developmental process. In addition to
developmental ones, the critical advantages provided to children by the family, which forms the base
of a variety of social structures, include identity, love, and care (OECD, 2011). A report prepared by the
United States Department of Education (2010) emphasizes that families with positive, careful, patient,
responsible, and decisive attitudes towards their children will form bridges between home and
school life (and between children and society), and therefore children from such families are more
likely to be successful.
In recent decades, women’s increasing participation in work outside the home has changed family
structures. In the Turkish case, traditional families characterized by three or more generations sharing
a residence have been transformed into nuclear ones. The greater number of women in the non-

CONTACT Betül Kübra Şahin kbsahin@gmail.com Reşadiye Vocational School, Child Care and Youth Services Department,
Gaziosmanpaşa University, Tokat 60150, Reşadiye, Turkey
© 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
2 F. TEZEL ŞAHIN AND B. K. ŞAHIN

domestic workforce has also been associated with changes in the sharing of tasks between men and
women at home: with childcare and housework increasingly shared by the mother and the father
(Tutkun & Tezel Şahin, 2016). However, Turkish society still tends to perceive such tasks as
‘women’s work’, and even those women who take paid work outside the home are expected to
perform them, however difficult this may be. In practice, this means finding someone else to look
after her children while she works (Kakıcı, Emeç, & Üçdoğruk, 2007). Despite Turkish family structures’
densely woven networks of relationships extending to even quite distant relatives, however, the first
people working women ask to care for their children are likely to be their own mothers and mothers-
in-law (Demiriz & Arpacı, 2016; Eyce, 1994; Yenilmez, 2012).
Research conducted in Turkey and a number of other countries by the OECD (2011) emphasized
that family structures changed in part because expectations of the individuals regarding their life had
increased as birth rates decreased, leading to marked increases in the ratio of grandparents per child.
The same study called for more effective support for grandparents who spend time with their grand-
children, including improved coordination with parents and providing better service to grandparents,
as this has the potential to prevent some negative outcomes for children.
In March 2017, Turkey launched a pilot version of the Grandmother Project, which aims to prevent
working mothers’ withdrawal from professional life while ensuring that their children keep in touch
with their rich culture and traditions (Ministry of Labor and Social Security, 2017). Specifically, this
initiative pays salaries to grandmothers for caring for their own grandchildren under age three,
with regular improvements implemented on the basis of monthly evaluations. Meaningfully asses-
sing the success of this and any similar projects will critically depend on gaining a clear understand-
ing of grandmothers’ experiences while caring for their grandchildren.
Hardly any studies focusing on such experiences could be however, found in the existing literature.
In one, Salman-Engin (2014) investigated mothers’, fathers’ and grandmothers’ interactions with 99
three-month-old babies in Turkey and America, and found similarities between American families
and those Turkish families where the mother was highly educated. The same study found that, of all
types of family members in both cultures, grandmothers played with babies the most. However, in
Marken and Howard’s (2014) study of custodial grandparents in the southeast region of the U.S, it
was reported that grandfathers participated in activities, especially social activities, more than grand-
mothers did. Sims and Rofail (2014) studied the effects on Australian grandparents’ self-reported well-
being of having little or no contact with their grandchildren, and found that they had the role of being
there and not interfering with anything but they were inadequate in this major parenting role. A differ-
ent study by Sims and Rofail (2013) found that the parents of men who divorced became emotionally
distant from their grandchildren. Bundy-Fazioli, Fruhauf, and Miller’s (2013) examination of how grand-
parents in the Unites States perceived their own emotional well-being in the context of raising grand-
children revealed that a sudden change to this caregiving function increased their emotional stress.
Smorti, Tschiesner, and Farneti (2012) examined the relationships of grandparents with their grandchil-
dren, and reported that these children spent more time with their grandmothers than grandfathers,
and with their paternal grandparents than their maternal ones. Backhouse and Graham (2013) exam-
ined the grandchild-raising experiences of Australian grandparents who had experienced grief, and
found that the satisfaction they derived from being parents to their grandchildren was tempered by
the intensity of their loss and grief. Şen (2007) examined the attachment styles of Turkish grand-
mothers, mothers and babies, and found that these styles were transferred between generations.
Vapur’s (2006) study of the parenting attitudes of parents and grandparents in Turkey reported that
some dimensions of these attitudes differed according to socioeconomic status.
As the above review implies, studies relating to grandmothers caring for their grandchildren in
Turkey have been very limited in both quantity and scope. Also, while grand motherhood is in
some sense a universal role, its meaning varies greatly across countries and cultures: for instance,
in terms of how grandmothers are involved in their grandchildren’s lives (Dolbin-MacNab &
Yancura, 2018). Therefore, the present study aims to fill a major gap in the literature regarding
Turkish grandmothers’ experiences of caring for their grandchildren.
 EARLY CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND CARE 3

Method
Research design
This is a exploratory qualitative research because qualitative methods in exploratory research give the
researcher the opportunity to learn participants’ responses in their own words through using open-
ended questions. The researcher does not force them to choose an answer for fixed questions, on the
contrary, he asks how and why questions to learn details of their initial responses (Family Health Inter-
national, n.d.; Louise Kelly, 2008). In this study, in-depth information related to experiences of grand-
mothers caring for their grandchildren in Turkey was gathered through interviews.

Participants
The participants in this study were all volunteers, selected using purposeful sampling, which pre-
selects individuals who are likely to provide rich information that is relevant to the aim of the
study (Bernard & Ryan, 2010). Thus, 40 grandmothers who cared for their grandchildren were
selected, ranging in age from 45 to 71; 24 of them were the mothers of the children’s fathers, and
16 the mothers of their mothers. Of the eight who had never attended school or failed to graduate
from primary school, five were illiterate and three were literate. Of the remainder, 17 had graduated
from primary school, three from middle school, seven from high school and five from university. Most
(n = 32) had never worked outside the home, but eight were retired from paid jobs. Only one of the
grandmothers had only one child; the others had two (n = 12), three (n = 14) or four or more (n = 13).
They had one (n = 6), two (n = 8), three (n = 9) or four and more (n = 17) grandchildren. Births of their
own first children ranged between 16 and 30, and their ages at the births of their first grandchildren
between 34 and 55. Twenty one grandmothers have a granddaughter and 19 had a grandson. The
ages of their grandchildren ranged between three and six. Gender and ages refer to only to the
grandchild being cared for (Table 1).

Data-collection tool
Data for this study were collected through a semi-structured Grandmother Interview Protocol devel-
oped by the researchers. At the beginning of the protocol-development process, the relevant litera-
ture was reviewed and a set of topics arrived at, including how/why grandmothers start caring for

Table 1. Demographic information of grandmothers.

Graduation n
Illiterate 5
Literate 3
Primary school 17
Middle school 3
High school 7
University 5
Number of children
1 1
2 12
3 14
4 and more 13
Number of grandchildren
1 6
2 8
3 9
4 and more 17
Gender of grandchildren
Girl 21
Boy 19
4 F. TEZEL ŞAHIN AND B. K. ŞAHIN

their grandchildren; how the caring experience changes the grandmothers’ lives; and how it influ-
ences the relationship between grandmothers and their grandchildren’s parents (Backhouse &
Graham, 2013; Marken & Howard, 2014; Salman-Engin, 2014; Sims & Rofail, 2013, 2014; Smorti
et al., 2012; Vapur, 2006). Then, the researchers solicited the views of five specialists in one or
more of the fields of early childhood education, child development and education, social services
and qualitative research on the first draft of the protocol, which consisted of total 29 questions: 13
relating to background information and 16 to the respondents’ experiences. Some questions were
omitted based on their suggestions, and the new 24-question version was piloted with three grand-
mothers, none of whom were participants in the main study. The post-pilot final interview protocol
also consisted of 24 questions, of which 10 related to background information and 14 to the grand-
mothers’ experiences. Examples of latter group of questions were, ‘Do you think that caring for your
grandchild influences your daily life? How?’, and ‘Can you please explain what you do over the course
of a day while caring for your grandchildren?’

Data-collection procedure
Data collection took place in March 2017. Initially, the aim of the study was explained to 54 grand-
mothers, of whom 40 volunteered to participate. It was explained that audio recording would help
shorten the duration of the interviews and reduce the chances of missing data, after which all par-
ticipants consented to being recorded. All expressed a preference to be interviewed face to face
in their own homes, and these preferences were accommodated in each case. The duration of the
interviews ranged between 30 and 45 min.

Data analysis
Content analysis was conducted to establish the concepts and relationships that explained the data,
following the procedure outlined by Yıldırım and Şimşek (2005). Before data analysis, all records were
transcribed and then read and coded by two researchers separately. Meaningful expressions were
examined and identified in the coding process, and connections between them were established.
At the end of the analysis, six main themes were identified: (1) the meaning of caring for one’s grand-
child, (2) the experience of deciding to undertake such care, (3) the daily flow of the grandmother-
grandchild relationship, (4) spending more time with grandchildren, (5) caring strategies, and (6) sup-
porters of the caring process. Each of these themes will be dealt with in its own subsection under
Findings, below.

Findings
The meaning of caring for one’s grandchild
When defining caring for their grandchildren, the participating grandmothers used a variety of words
and phrases, as detailed in Table 2.
Just over half the participants (n = 22) used the word ‘happiness’. They also equated caring for
their grandchildren to love (n = 7), peace (n = 4), being family (n = 4), a part of their children (n =
4), energy/therapy (n = 4), caring for their own children (but more valuable) (n = 3), and pleasure
(n = 3). For instance, G15 (age 65) stated that she was unsure how she could describe caring for
her grandchild in words, as she felt it only though only her heart, and added that only her grandchild
could take the place of her child therefore she felt happy to be with her. Others said:
Your love is with you, and you can hug and kiss him whenever you want. What else do I want in this life? (G2, 54)

It is more valuable than caring for my child because my grandchild is cuter than my own child. (G8, 49)

A grandchild is happiness, being family and being completed. (G36, 66)

 EARLY CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND CARE 5

Table 2. Terms used by the participants to describe the meaning of caring

for their grandchildren.
Words/phrases n
Happiness 22
Love 7
Peace 4
Being family 4
A part of my child 4
Energy/therapy 4
More valuable than caring for my child 3
Pleasure 3

Deciding to care for a grandchild

All the participants arrived at the decision to care for their grandchildren via one of the three path-
ways set forth in Table 3.
Half of the participants (n = 20) emphasized that they decided to care for their grandchildren uni-
laterally. For instance, G2 (54) said that she did not want her granddaughter to start school early, and
therefore chose to care for her while her mother was working; G34 (54) stated that she decided to care
for her youngest grandchild because her son and his wife had two other children.
One of the 11 grandmothers who said they decided to care for their grandchildren jointly with
their children, G31 (66), mentioned that this decision was made because her daughter-in-law was
ill and her son had to work. Of the nine grandmothers who stated that caring for their grandchildren
was an obligation rather than a decision, one (G18, 67) additionally mentioned that her daughter and
son-in-law had demanded that she provided this care. One of the other eight grandmothers who
acted out of a sense of obligation, G4 (53), reported her caring role initially arose when she was
living in her son’s home while her daughter-in-law was ill after giving birth; but that when the
child’s mother recovered, nothing changed. Similarly, G13 (55) said:
Since we live at the same home, I have to care for my grandchild.

The daily flow of the grandmother-grandchild relationship

The participants’ descriptions of the daily flow of their activities with their grandchildren are summar-
ized in Table 4.
Nearly all the participants (n = 37) mentioned performing day-to-day caring activities such as
cooking for, feeding and bathing their grandchildren. Most also stated that they played with their
grandchildren (n = 21) and/or engaged in other activities with them such as going to park and
reading a book (n = 23). Nearly a third of the grandmothers emphasized their grandchildren’s
habit of watching TV alone. Some commented:
Initially I prepare breakfast for my grandson and then I let him watch cartoons from which he can learn numbers or
colours. Then, it is nap time. After he gets up, we play outside and do several activities until his mother arrives. (G6, 68)

We do everything together in life. We read stories together. I sometimes tell him a tale or he sometimes tells me one.
We go to the park or shopping. Also, we discuss certain events. (G20, 60)

Table 3. How the participants decided to care for their grandchildren.

n
Unilaterally 20
Jointly with their own children 11
It was an obligation rather than a decision 9
6 F. TEZEL ŞAHIN AND B. K. ŞAHIN

Table 4. The participants’ self-reported daily activities with their grandchildren.

n
Daily caring activities 37
Engaging in several activities 23
Playing together 21
Grandchild’s habit of watching TV alone 11

Since my grandchild cries when away from her parents, I try to console her through play. We eat something, play and
watch cartoons together. (G28, 59)

Spending more time with grandchildren

The respondents’ answers regarding spending more time with grandchildren fell into three main cat-
egories: (1) effects on daily life, (2) effects on the grandmothers themselves, and (3) effects on the
grandmothers’ relationships with their grandchildren’s parents. With regard to the first category,
half (n = 20) stated that caring for their grandchildren did not influence their daily lives, while
other half emphasized that it affected their routines either positively or negatively. For instance,
G1 (58) stated that because she had looked after other children before her grandchild’s birth, she
was not influenced and felt happy with the situation. G21 (63) also said that since she was used to
care for her own children, her daily life was unaffected and caring for her grandchild was not hard
work. Those grandmothers who stated that their daily life was influenced reported that they had
needed to change their routines (n = 4), did not have enough time for themselves and their other
family members (n = 4), had more energy (n = 3), made better and more meaningful use of their
time (n = 3), felt that they had gone back to the good old days (n = 2) and had learnt to be patient
(n = 1). Their comments included:
Of course my daily life is influenced; because I sometimes don’t have time for myself. My grandchild is so active that I
get tired very often. (G2, 54)

It influences very much because I am old and I want to be free and comfortable. (G5, 66)

Before [my grandson’s] birth, going somewhere or meeting friends was easy. Now, I have to prepare him before going
anywhere. Then, because of all this preparing, I sometimes get tired before I even leave home. (G19, 52)

In terms of the second category – the effects of caring for their grandchildren on the grandmothers
themselves – many of the participants highlighted positive effects. For instance, they said that they
had fun (n = 20); came to know the individual characteristics of their grandchildren and love them
more (n = 11); relieved their stress and/or increased their energy (n = 4); became more active phys-
ically in their grandchildren’s company (n = 2); and learned patience (n = 1). G6 (68) stated that
being with her grandchildren increased her energy, and reminded her childhood and some
games she had played. G14 (62) emphasized that she had fun, forgot all her problems and did
not understand how the time passed so quickly while she was with her grandchild. Some
others commented:
My days have passed fast and been good since I started caring for my grandchild. (G21, 63)

I like spending time with him and it brings me back to the old days. I remember his father’s childhood and I try to
recover some missing parts: things I could not do for my son. (G25, 43)

The reasons grandmothers gave for stating that caring for their grandchildren had influenced them
negatively included that it made them tired (n = 6), limited their lives (n = 5) and left them with insuf-
ficient time to do other things (n = 2). G2 (54) emphasized that she and her husband both arranged
their daily schedules around their grandchild, making it hard for either of them to find enough time
for themselves. Two others said:
 EARLY CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND CARE 7

My grandchild limits my life because I can’t take her everywhere with me. Therefore, I usually prefer to stay at home.
(G12, 62)

I get tired and I generally have a headache since there are a lot of noises at home. (G13, 55)

While 60% of the participants (n = 24) claimed that caring for their grandchildren was stressful at
times, the remainder emphasized that the experience was stress-free. Those who did complain of
stress mentioned the contexts of feeding (n = 6), accidents (n = 6), illnesses or giving medicine (n
= 4), naughtiness (n = 3), disagreements with the grandchild’s parents (n = 2) and establishing rules
(n = 2). Some of their comments included:
I am worried about accidents and injuries. Therefore, I try to control her and it is really stressful. (G12, 62)

I am illiterate. Therefore, it is a big problem for me to give her medicine while I am alone at home. I don’t know which
medicine is for what. (G5, 66)

I have some problems and disagreements with his father. We think differently about many things. This makes me
stressed. (G22, 57)

In the third and final category, i.e. the effects of caring for grandchildren on grandmothers’ relation-
ships with their children and children’s spouses, 80% of the participants (n = 32) stated that such
relationships had been influenced positively. Some of their remarks included:
We started to share more things with my son and his wife. We talk about my grandchild, their childhoods and my
experiences. Also, they feel comfortable and happy with the care I provide for my grandchild. They trust in me. (G6, 68)

I think caring for my grandchild has strengthened our relationship because we try to solve problems together. Since we
don’t always make the same decisions, we talk about them, sometimes supporting each other and sometimes discuss-
ing some more. However, we find common ground in the end. (G2, 54)

Six of the participants emphasized that caring for their grandchildren did not affect their relationships
with their children or their children’s spouses. G23 (53) stressed that this was because she, the child
and the child’s parents all lived together in the same home both before and after the caring relation-
ship was initiated. Of the eight grandmothers who did not report that their relations with their chil-
dren and children-in-law were influenced positively, only one stated that it was definitely influenced
negatively, while another emphasized that her caring role had a positive or negative influence over
such relations, varying on a case-by-case or day-to-day basis.

Caring strategies
The respondents’ statements about caring strategies can be divided into two main categories: (1)
differences between their own caring strategies and their children’s parenting strategies, and (2) simi-
larities/differences between their own strategies as a mother and a grandmother. With regard to the
first category, 12 grandmothers mentioned that there were no differences, while nine stated that they
were more flexible than the children’s parents. One of the latter group of nine (G6, 68) said that she let
her grandchildren feed himself, while two others commented:
Parents want to raise their children in different ways. We were more flexible and created opportunities for children to
relax and play. For instance, they could play outside. However, children are always with us at home or at the shopping
centre now. (G4, 53)

[O]ur strategies are quite different. For instance, since my grandchild is my daughter-in-law’s first child, she did not have
enough experience. However, I had many children and grandchildren so I was experienced in raising children. She doesn’t
know the needs of children and doesn’t let the child do various things. However, I can see my grandchild’s needs. For
instance, she can go out and play with her friends. I believe that a child should be free, and learn actively about life
and how to be strong. Also, her mother gets angry immediately, but I am patient and I can keep calm. (G21, 63)

Some grandmothers (n = 6) emphasized that they were old-fashioned. For instance, G11 (67) said
that she and her grandchild’s mother had different views related to caring for and raising a
8 F. TEZEL ŞAHIN AND B. K. ŞAHIN

child, and stressed her traditional belief that mothers should not work outside the home. G16 (54)
commented:
I think parents follow new trends now whereas I consider some traditions. For instance, I want to put olive oil on the
child’s body but they prefer the new baby oil.

Three grandmothers emphasized that children were only decision-makers at home now, while two
stated that children had more needs today than in the past. G1 (58) said:
Being a parent was easier formerly. There were not so many toys and not so many stimuli […]. Nowadays, children
always need something or want to have something. Therefore, their parents always meet these needs and wishes.

In terms of the second category of comments on caring strategies – the similarities and differences
between their own strategies as a mother and as a grandmother – most of the participants (n = 31)
emphasized the differences between these sets of approaches. Such differences related to time (n =
10), facilities (n = 6), patience (n = 4), care (n = 3), responsibility (n = 2) and education (n = 2). For
instance, G2 (54) emphasized that when she was young, she felt able to ignore the happiness of
her children and worried primarily about finishing her work, which left her little time to spend
with them. As a grandmother, however, she claimed that she focused on her grandchild tried to
spend much more time with him. Three other participants commented as follows:
Our facilities are completely different now. When my grandchild wants or needs something, we have facilities and
opportunities to be able to meet them. However, when we were young, we could not do this for our children. (G21, 63)

I was an impatient mother but now as a grandmother, I feel that I have endless patience. (G3, 56)

There are some differences related to caring. My mother and my mother-in-law looked after my children because I was
working. However, I am caring for my grandchild and I can observe each stage of her development. (G10, 71)

Nine of the participants reported similarities in this area, especially as related to fussiness (n = 3) and
love (n = 3). One of this group (G3, 56) said that she was fussy while raising both her child and her
grandchild. She emphasized that she always considered hygiene issues, changing their diapers
often and making strong efforts to maintain the cleanliness of children’s clothes and pacifiers.

Supporters of the caring process

All of the respondents talked about whether other people supported their activities of caring for their
grandchildren, with 60% (n = 24) stating that they had some such support, and 40% (n = 16) that
nobody helped them. The group who said they did receive help mentioned that this included house-
work; taking the child somewhere such as the park; helping the child draw, feed him- or herself, and
learn other self-help skills; and playing with him/her, either indoors or outdoors.
His mother and grandfather help me. When I have work, they can look after him. For instance, when I have to tidy my
home or to go to a painting course, they can take him to the park. (G2, 52)

My daughters or my daughter-in-law help me feed or clothe him. (G16, 54)

Discussion
The present study’s findings indicate that, while caring for their grandchildren had a variety of mean-
ings for Turkish grandmothers, such meanings were generally positive. For example, more than half
of the participants characterized caring for their grandchildren as love, and also used words/phrases
including peace, being a family, energy/therapy and pleasure. These positive statements by grand-
mothers may reflect that caring for their grandchildren had positive effects on them – echoing the
findings of some prior studies such as Kartal, Turan, Kuzu-Kurban, and Zencir’s (2011), which found
that grandparents who looked after their grandchildren were at a lower risk of depression than
those who did not, and that caring for grandchildren positively affected some other dimensions of
 EARLY CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND CARE 9

grandparents’ quality of life. Likewise, Becker, Beyene, Newsom, and Mayen (2003) emphasized that
grandmothers and grandchildren provided social-emotional benefits to each other, and Lye (1996)
argued that grandparenting was generally the most satisfying aspect of a person’s older age.
The present study’s sample of grandmothers was evenly split between those who said they chose
to care for their grandchildren voluntarily, and those who felt they had no other option. Turkish family
structure is complex, with networks extending from the closest family members outward towards
quite distant relatives (Demiriz & Arpacı, 2016; Eyce, 1994; Yenilmez, 2012); nevertheless, the
present study’s data imply that grandmothers are at or near the top of the list of family members
who are expected to look after young children in Turkish culture.
Almost all the grandmothers interviewed as part of the current research stated that they engaged
in day-to-day activities such as eating, bathing, and cleaning with their grandchildren; some also said
that they played games with them, cooked, drew, and went to the park. Given that all the children the
participants were caring for were under the age of seven, it was reasonable to expect that their grand-
mothers would be with them during a wide variety of activities and support their skills development,
especially in light of prior studies’ findings that grandparents’ activities with their grandchildren posi-
tively influence the latter in various ways: providing them with role models, nutrition, love and
support, and communicating with them about their lives (Dolbin-MacNab & Keiley, 2009; Hayslip,
Fruhauf, & Dolbin-MacNab, 2017). Moreover, partly as a result of greater parental participation in
work outside the home, grandparents are playing increasingly important roles in all phases and
numerous aspects of the lives of their grandchildren (Arber & Timonen, 2012; DeGreeff & Burnett,
2017; OECD, 2011).
According to half the grandmothers who participated in the current study, caring for their grand-
children did not affect their lives, while the other half maintained that their lives were influenced by it
either positively or negatively. Various prior studies have likewise indicated that caring for their
grandchildren influences grandmothers’ lives, usually negatively, although such research has gener-
ally been conducted in countries other than Turkey. For example; Backhouse and Graham (2013)
reported that Australian grandparents who cared for their children experienced serious confusion,
especially if they were unprepared for this role and were thrust into it suddenly. Bundy-Fazioli
et al. (2013), meanwhile, demonstrated that this change in their lives increased American grand-
mothers’ stress levels. It is possible that these adults, despite having raised at least one child long
ago, had difficulties doing so again, and that these difficulties caused stress that negatively impacted
their daily lives (Hayslip et al., 2017).
When the grandmothers in the present research compared themselves to their grandchildren’s
parents, they tended to characterize themselves as old-fashioned but more flexible towards children.
This may relate to the fact that some of the information grandmothers have about the care, devel-
opment and discipline of children is not up to date (Hayslip et al., 2017); and especially as a result
of technological change, the needs of their grandchildren are often quite different from those of
their own children. The sampled grandmothers’ self-perceived greater flexibility, on the other
hand, may be due to the fact that their grandchildren’s parents have higher workloads and more
daily responsibilities than they do, as suggested by various prior studies. For example, Li (2001) com-
pared Taiwanese mothers’ and grandmothers’ parenting attitudes and found that 50.9% of the
grandmothers had a democratic attitude, and only 9.4% an authoritarian one, whereas 37.1% of
mothers had a democratic attitude and 19.3% had authoritarian attitudes. In the same study,
32.2% of the grandmothers had a permissive parenting attitude, as compared to 26.9% of
mothers. And Salman-Engin (2014) noted that grandmothers played more often and more divertingly
with their grandchildren than these children’s own mothers and fathers did.
Only three-fifths of the grandmothers who participated in the present study mentioned that they
had someone who supported them in caring for their grandchildren. Given their ages and physical
characteristics, it was somewhat surprising that this proportion was not higher.
In conclusion, the Turkish grandmothers interviewed in this qualitative study mostly described
caring for their grandchildren using positive expressions, often including the word ‘love’ (sevgi).
10 F. TEZEL ŞAHIN AND B. K. ŞAHIN

Half of the grandmothers in this study decided for themselves to care for their grandchildren, while
other half made this decision jointly with their grandchildren’s parents or out of feelings of obligation.
Nearly all stated that they mostly performed day-to-day caring activities for their grandchildren, as
well as playing games, going to the park and drawing with them, among other activities. Half felt
unaffected by caring for their grandchildren, while the other half felt that it had influenced them
either positively or negatively. When talking about the strategies they used to raise their grandchil-
dren, the grandmothers focused on the differences and similarities between their own practices and
those of the children’s parents, and on the differences between their own practices as mothers and as
grandmothers. Two-fifths said they received no support from anyone as they raised their
grandchildren.
Based on this study’s findings, and in light of the well-document positive effects of grandmothers
caring for their grandchildren, parents should be provided with awareness training regarding the
advantages of giving grandparents opportunities to spend time with their grandchildren, as well
as the pressures that this might place on grandparents and how to help avoid them. Teachers,
school administrators and others should also create opportunities for parents to spend time with
their children and the children’s grandparents at the same time, and grandparents who care for
school-age children should be included in schools’ parent-involvement activities. Educational pro-
grammes, seminars and conferences could usefully be organized to update grandmothers’ knowl-
edge of the care, development, and discipline needs of young children; and new public-
information programmes should aim to make communication between parents and grandparents
more effective.
Further studies should examine how caring for grandchildren is perceived culturally, and compare
the views of this topic held by grandmothers from different cultures or countries. The influences of
caring for grandchildren on grandmothers in a Turkish context can be compared with other cultures
or countries; and how grandmothers’ personal characteristics, especially their educational back-
grounds, affect the activities they engage in with their grandchildren should also be investigated.
Lastly, the perceptions of grandfathers who care for their grandchildren, either jointly with grand-
mothers or by themselves, should be investigated and compared against those of grandmothers.
Also, experiences of grandmothers can be compared based on if they are core-sided with their chil-
dren, jointly cared for grandchildren from a distance or sole caregivers.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors
Prof. Dr. Fatma Tezel Şahin is working as a professor of preschool education at Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey. She has
worked as a preschool teacher, a research assistant and an assistant professor for 23 years. Her research areas are parent
education, men in early childhood education and parent involvement in ECE. She has many presentations and
publications.
Lecturer Betül Kübra Şahin is working as a lecturer of Preschool Education at Gaziosmanpaşa University, Reşadiye
Vocational School, Tokat, Turkey. She had been worked as a preschool teacher in private and public schools seven
years. She has worked as a lecturer at Gaziosmanpaşa University since 2015. Her research areas are parent education,
parenting styles and environmental education in early childhood education. She has many presentations and
publications.

ORCID
Betül Kübra Şahin http://orcid.org/0000-0002-1495-2227
 EARLY CHILD DEVELOPMENT AND CARE 11

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