Alyssa Quart

We're very worried about children's safety.

So where it used to be more common to kind of leave kids alone or with older children, kind of let them play around in the neighborhood without adult supervision all the time, it's just not as common anymore, which means that there is just so much work involved in parenting.

And at the same time, there's rising costs of childcare.

It's very, very expensive and not accessible for a lot of people.

So people are relying on family to help out with that.

And as people are living longer and might be a little bit more fit and able, a lot more is expected of grandparents.

You know, it can be good and bad.

Of course, a lot of grandparents really want to be involved in their grandchildren's lives.

It's very meaningful for a lot of people.

But it also can be very physically taxing.

I mean, even though people are living longer, it gets harder and harder.

And I interviewed a lot of grandparents who said, you know, I can feel the physical difference.

Like when I was a parent, I was running around and I just felt more capable.

And now I can really feel how tired I am.

There's also a cost in terms of what grandparents are not experiencing in their own lives in that time.

A lot of adults, they work their whole lives for so many decades.

They raise kids.

They put so much into that.

And then this is kind of the time that they've been waiting for to focus on themselves again.

But that time is really getting delayed and in some cases, you know, just sort of pushed back until it's not going to happen at all because a lot of grandparents, you know, are being involved in child care until the point at which they wouldn't be healthy enough to travel or they are kind of losing some of those opportunities they might have had.