Did most people actually get to spend "quality" time with their Grandparents?

Question

Don't most of them die before their grandchildren are born or before they reach the age of 5? I never knew anyone who had living grandparents when I was growing up. This was not the "norm" in my childhood or my classmates! When did your grandparents die?

Answer 1

I didn't and I felt cheated. My grandmother on my mom's side died before I was born, but I did get to meet my grandfather. Unfortunately, he lived in another state so I didn't get to know him very well. Never knew my grandfather on my dad's side. He was a mystery no one talked about. I knew my grandmother on my dad's side, but was not close to her.

Answer 2

I was raised by my grandparents and grandpa died when I was 17 ( he was 88) grandma died when I was 38 ( she was 87) I have 11 grandchildren ranging in age from 2 yrs to 27 yrs. I have 2 great-grandchildren 1& 6 and will have another in July 08'.
Also in the farming community where I was raised there were
six kids being raised by their grandparents including some I went to school with. I was a very young mother and became a grandmother at 35 when my oldest daughter and her husband were 20 & 21.

Answer 3

My paternal grandfather died before I was born, my paternal grandmother died when I was six years old. My dad was the baby, and his mom was 42 and his dad was around 50 when he was born-that was unusual and in my neighborhood not having a grandparent was odd. My maternal grandfather died when I was 18 and my grandmother died when I was 25. My mom was also the baby of her family and came fairly late in life. Most of the kids I grew up with had living grandparents. My older relatives all knew their grandparents and great grandparents.

My mom was only 42 years old when my oldest daughter was born. That is fairly young, and so I wouldn't think it would be normal for grandparents to die before their grandchildren are born. My children spent lots of time with all 4 of their grandparents, they still call and email them.

Answer 4

I never knew my one grandfather who passed a few months before I was born. One grandmother passed when I was 5.
On the other side of the family though, both of my grandparents AND my Great-Grandmother lived until I was well into my teen years.
It all depends on how old your grandparents were when they had your parents and how old your parents were when they had you. The older they were, the less likely they would have been still alive to be in your life.

Answer 5

My last grandparent died when I was 13. I grew up in the house with my paternal grandparents so I spent more time with them than most people do. My mom's parents died when I was 4 and 11. My grandparents and parents were older than all my friends' so I guess it depends more on how far you live from them.

My kids lost one grandfather when they were under 5. The other grandfather when they were in their late teens/early 20's. They knew the later very well. Both grandmothers are still living and my kids are 23 and 26. My mom lives with us. Hubby's mom lived close by when my kids were growing up. She has Alzheimers now, so they actually knew her better then than now.

Answer 6

I spent several summers (and even went to school 1/2 year in 4th and 6th grades) living with my grandparents. The last summer spent with them I was 16. My mother felt I was spending too much time with my new girlfriend of 7 months in 1963, so when school let out in June, I was on a bus headed for Huron, Ohio on lake Erie. Wow! Were there a lot of fun girls there! But I came home in August and back with my gf until I graduated and left for the Navy in 1965. Mom's plan didn't work. No, we didn't get married.
My grandmother died while I was in the Middle East in 1979, my grandfather died while I was in Israel in 1985.

Answer 7

Both my grandmothers died when I was well into adulthood, the last one when I was about 35. But, since they were both vindictive, bitter, horrid women, there wasn't alot of quality time available.

For the record, my husband's one set of grandparents just died this decade (he's 37). And my inlaws have grandchildren aged from 28 down to 3, so many of the older grandchildren don't fit your criteria.

Answer 8

Not any more..since the 60s and birth control. People are waiting longer now to have kids.

Luckily I came from a family full of of irresponsible "live fast and die young" people. I had 6 grandparents due to divorce and in my twenties 3 of them are alive and newly retired.

If my son keeps up the trend my parents could be great grandparents before they retire too, and maybe we can have living great-great grandparents. (kidding! I hope!)

Answer 9

My fathers parents died when he was a young child, his mother aged thirty two died of a complication of childbirth. How lucky we are today to be as safe when we give birth. Although both grandparents died young all their children lived long.
On my mothers side I learnt much about elder care.My grandmother used to take me to my great gandmas house every second day whe I was a child in kindergarten. My great grandma was blind and I never guessed that she wasn't reading the story of little red riding hood as we sat in her great big bed of an afternoon. My grandmother was something special, she knew how to skip and as we made our way to great gandmas we would sing "We're off to see the wizard, the wonderful wizard of Oz"
At Christmas time she would take me to see Father Christmas in the city of Melbourne which is the nearest capitol city to the industrial suburb of Footscray where we lived which 50 years ago was very polluted. We would go to the cafeteria in "Coles," a chain store in Melbourne, and we would look at the window displays. The stores would have Christmas fun parks, often on the roofs. If you put a penny into a slot a mechanical snowman would drop a marshmallow snowball. As we never have snow oin Melbourne and Christmas is usually hot hot hot it seems strange but we mostly had traditional Christmas dinners at Nana's place, we didnt have Turkey, but chicken was expensive then and we had it at Christmas instead of the ( then but not now) cheap lamb that we had on sundays through the year.
My grandad when he retired used to walk his dogs ( corgi's) to the park. Mum would let me run down there at a certain time every night after school when she knew that poppa would be there with the dogs. We used to collect grass seeds from the park and we would go back to poppa's place and feed the canaries with them.
Strangely all their children died quite young in their fifties,perhaps because of the heavily polluted environment they grew up in as did we. But both of my sisters have reached 60 and I am nearly there. I wonder.

Answer 10

I lost my grandfathers early (one when I was only about five and the other when I was twenty) but had my grand mothers into my fifties.

Quality time? Most definitely! My Nanny (mom's mother) was very close to the wife and me. She taught my wife a lot about how to cook and how to stretch out what we had on hand to make do...

Even after she needed assisted living accommodations (latter stages of Alzheimer's) we made the hundred mile round trip several times a month to see her. I learned a lot about Alzheimer's because of those trips and it has helped me in counseling people who are trying to provide care to spouses or parents with Alzheimer's.