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Source: DAILYMAIL

Family breakdown is leaving a generation of elderly people isolated and without help, a major report has found.

By DANIEL MARTIN
Last updated at 7:55 AM on 23rd November 2010

Its authors said higher divorce rates have made family ties less permanent and more of a chore.

Rather than see it as a duty to look after their parents, many middle-aged people offer help only if there is something in it for them. As a result, support is often ‘negotiated and bargained for’.

Increased movement around the country has also strained connections between the generations, according to the Centre for Social Justice.….Continue Reading

Source: TELEGRAPH

Grandparents save their parents more than £12 billion in childcare costs, a study suggests.

By Myra Butterworth

It is an increase of £7 billion on last year, with grandparents typically spending more than nine hours every week providing childcare, according to the research by insurer RIAS.

It is evidence of the growing dependence on grandparents, with the number of hours every week providing childcare almost doubling from five in 2009.

A total of 7.5 million grandparents currently look after their grandchildren on a regular basis, with almost all of them receiving no formal payment for their time.….Continue Reading

Source: DAILYMAIL

Mothers with young children forced back to work by the recession are putting unprecedented strain on Britain’s grandparents, research reveals today.

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 9:02 AM on 16th November 2010

It reveals soaring numbers of grandparents are being relied upon by their cash-strapped children to look after their young grandchildren.

More than 60 per cent of Britain’s grandparents say they provide free childcare for babies as young as six months ‘at least once a week.’

The report estimates that grandparents overwhelmingly do not charge a penny, with just two per cent saying they get ‘formal payment’ for the help that they provide.

Overall, the report, from the insurer RIAS, estimates grandparents are saving their children more than £12.5billion a year in childcare costs.….Continue Reading

Source: Guardian >> Read full article and comment

No NS&I passbook or refund has been received despite letters, telephone calls and completed forms.

By Mark King

On 2 June I tried to set up an Investment Account on behalf of my new grandchild. I paid in £20 and the Post Office staff in Redditch, Worcestershire, completed the forms and told me to expect a passbook in a few weeks time. I never received the passbook. On telephoning I received a number of contradictory messages, followed by a missing passbook form to complete. Despite letters, telephone calls and completed forms (the last one with signatures of the parents on it), no passbook or refund has been received. Please help me claim my money back and warn readers as to how difficult it is for grandparents to set up an account for grandchildren with NS&I.….Continue Reading

Source: BBC NEWS>> Read full article and comment

The mother of a 10-year-old disabled girl who had her wheelchair stolen says it has been recovered but is badly damaged.

9 November 2010 Last updated at 12:55 GMT

Olivia Newing, of Canton, Cardiff, had her wheelchair taken while she was visiting her grandmother on Sunday.

It has since been found but her mother, Carmel Boston, said parts were missing and a wheel had been damaged.

Police said a 13-year-old boy had been arrested on suspicion of theft.

The wheelchair was taken on Sunday afternoon from outside Olivia’s grandmother’s house in the Ely area of Cardiff.….Continue Reading

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Two young girls whose mother was killed by their father should be brought up by his parents, not their mother’s, the High Court has ruled.

By David Barrett, Home Affairs Correspondent
Published: 8:15AM GMT 07 Nov 2010

Mrs Justice Hogg decided that the children, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, should remain with their paternal grandparents despite expert advice that “generally children should not be placed with the perpetrator’s family”.….Continue Reading

Source: GUARDIAN

A 10-year-old girl giving birth to a baby in Spain has caused outrage. But she and her family seem happy, so why should we be worried?

Giles Tremlett
Friday 5 November 2010

She is called Nicoletta and, undoubtedly, is as delightful as any healthy newborn baby. But her birth 10 days ago in the southern Spanish city of Jerez has provoked a storm – because her mother is just 10 years old.

What has shocked the rest of the world, however, is described as a happy event by the family. “My daughter is well, as is the little girl – who is very fine and pretty. She is very happy with her daughter,” the baby’s Romanian grandmother, Olimpia, told Spanish journalists. “This is not a drama, it is a cause for happiness. At this age we marry in Romania. It is normal amongst we Gypsies.”….Continue Reading

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The boy who fathered the baby born to a 10-year-old girl in Spain is just 13 himself, relatives revealed today.

By GERARD COUZENS
Last updated at 6:20 PM on 3rd November 2010

The Romanian youngster, called Elena, became one of the world’s youngest mothers when she gave birth to a 6lbs 6oz baby last week at a hospital in Jerez, Spain.

She has called her child, a baby girl born naturally, Nicoletta.

Her relatives revealed she is no longer seeing the boy and gave more details of the astonishing birth.

Elena flew to Spain from Romania just three weeks ago to give birth and attend a family wedding.

They are now staying with relatives at a flat in Lebrija, a walled town of around 25,000 inhabitants between Jerez and Seville in the country’s south-west.The shabby-looking three-storey brick building in the centre of the town is home to dozens of Romanian and south American immigrants.

Neither mother or child, who come from a gypsy family and are expected to stay indoors for 40 days in accordance with local tradition, have been seen in public.

But the baby’s grandmother, Olimpia, said the family were feeling ‘ecstatic.’ ….Continue Reading

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Michael Jackson’s three children – Prince Michael, Paris and Blanket – are to appear in an episode of The Oprah Winfrey Show.

By Anita Singh, Showbusiness Editor
Published: 3:10PM GMT 02 Nov 2010

Source: BBC NEWS

The teenager sentenced to one year for killing his grandfather is to be released at the end of November.

2 November 2010 Last updated at 12:04 GMT

Eamonn Coyle, 18, was sentenced on 1 November. He will be released from Hydebank Young Offenders centre.

Coyle served 10 months in Woodlands juvenile justice centre from April 2009 to Feb 2010. He was then bailed but was returned to custody in October 2010.

It has been revealed that the Director of the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) is to consider his sentence.

The PPS has 28 days to decide if they will refer the case to the Court of Appeal if they believe it is “unduly lenient”.….Continue Reading

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Becoming a grandparent has opened up a wonderful new world for TV presenter GLORIA HUNNIFORD.

By GLORIA HUNNIFORD
Last updated at 8:15 AM on 21st October 2010

Here, in the final part of our serialisation of her new book Glorious Grandparenting, she celebrates the traditions that bind her family together and shares the uplifting moments she’s experienced with her grandsons…

One of the things I wanted to do as a grandparent was to create, or carry on, little family traditions — things my grandsons would remember and smile about when they grew up and looked back on their childhoods. And top of the list seems to be drinking tea together.

Tea has always been very important in our household. I was practically weaned on the stuff. My mother would never have the kettle or teapot half full because, as she used to say, ‘you never know who might drop in’. So it’s no surprise that tea has always been my favourite drink. ….Continue Reading

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TV presenter tells how she strives to be a ‘cool nana’ to Charlie, 16 and Gabriel, 14

By FRANCES HARDY
Last updated at 11:45 AM on 19th October 2010

Gloria Hunniford is recalling a recent milestone in her eldest grandson Charlie’s life: the day she was entrusted to go with him and view his prospective new boarding school.

What thoughts were uppermost in her mind as she toured the classrooms and chatted with the staff?

‘Actually,’ she says, ‘I felt a dual responsibility. I wasn’t just looking at it from a grandmother’s perspective. I was also thinking: “Would my daughter Caron be happy if he were here? Would she have approved?”

‘I think she would. I was seeing everything through her eyes too; being both grandmother and mum.….Continue Reading

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The cost of being a grandparent is £50,352, a survey has suggested, highlighting how those in retirement are forced to keep on picking up the bill not just for their children but their children’s children.

By Harry Wallop, Consumer Affairs Editor
Published: 7:00AM BST 19 Oct 2010

Source: Guardian >> Read full article and comment

Nominate your favourite museum and get a free Quentin Blake poster!

Monday 18 October 2010 15.18 BST

Perhaps it was the notice by the meteorite, saying: “This is the oldest object you will ever touch.” Or your toddler being invited to roar at a ruff-collared ducal portrait in the 17th-century gallery to show an early appreciation of art. Or the quiet chat about war-time childhood between a grandparent and child over a 1940s record player on display. Scenarios like these let families know that visitors no longer have to wander round a museum in reverential silence. More museums are welcoming noisy, nosy families of all ages. It’s these visitors who bring museums alive.….Continue Reading

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Whether it is paying soaring insurance premiums for the first car, coping with university debt or battling to get on the property ladder, young people face a struggle when they start out in life.

Last updated at 10:18 PM on 16th October 2010

And with borrowing on the High Street harder to get in the wake of the credit crunch, they are increasingly turning to the Bank of Mum and Dad. More parents (and grandparents) are having to step in to give the next generation a helping hand.

Saran Allott-Davey, a director of independent adviser Heron House Financial Management in Newport, South Wales, says: ‘I’m seeing a greater hunger from clients who want to do more for the next generation. In particular, higher university fees have come right on to their radar.’

Last week’s announcement that tuition fees in England could rise to an average of £7,000 a year is the latest blow to parents. If they rise in line with inflation at 2.5 per cent a year over the next 18 years, the average cost for a three-year degree for a child born today would total £32,750, says fund manager M&G. Starting when a child is born, and assuming six per cent growth, parents would need to save £55 a month to hit this target.….Continue Reading

Source: TELEGRAPH >> Read full article and comment

Hundreds of thousands of middle-aged people who give up work to look after their grandchildren will have their right to a state pension protected in future.

By Rosa Prince, Political Correspondent
Published: 6:00AM BST 15 Oct 2010

Source: DAILYMAIL >> Read full article and comment

Confessions of a primary school playground dealer.

By PAUL BRACCHI
Last updated at 11:09 PM on 8th October 2010

There is a big, cuddly toy lion in his bedroom alongside Dougal from the Magic Roundabout and Doodles, the canine star of the Tweenies children’s TV show.

His favourite programme is Horrid Henry.

These are reminders that the person you are about to read about is still a little boy; just nine years old. Remember that. It is the single, most shocking fact in this story. It begins one morning in Burnley eight days ago when the slip of a lad sitting opposite me on his grandmother’s sofa arrived at school.

His family have asked us not to reveal his identity because they say it could put him at risk, so we shall call him Billy.….Continue Reading

Source: Guardian >> Read full article and comment

Their huge contribution to childcare must be given greater recognition.

Sam Smethers
Wednesday 6 October 2010

So “A call has gone out for grandparents around Spain to down tools … and go on strike – because they’re sick to the back teeth of all that childcare” (Babysitting to baby sit-in: Spain’s grandparents to strike, 24 September).

Will they heed it? Probably not. Grandparents see the children as their responsibility. They care too much to put themselves first. So they are taken for granted, undervalued and unrecognised. Research our charity did a year ago estimated that the UK’s 14 million grandparents are supporting families by providing childcare worth £3.9bn every year.….Continue Reading

Source: DAILYMAIL >> Read full article and comment

The grandparents who are having to look after grandchildren AND their own elderly parents.

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 8:26 AM on 7th October 2010

• Gruelling dual caring role puts those in 50s and 60s under tremendous pressure

Modern family life has spawned a ‘Sandwich Generation’ of grandparents who are caring for their elderly parents and grandchildren, a report revealed today.

Millions of grandparents have found themselves looking after younger and older relatives while they should be winding down towards retirement.

Usually the third tier of a four-generation family, they regularly juggle looking after the grandchildren while their mother and father are at work, at the same time also having to care for frail or elderly parents.….Continue Reading

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Sisters Ena Pugh and Lily Millward are claiming the title of the oldest twins in the world – at 100 years and nine months.

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 12:02 PM on 4th October 2010

Farmer’s daughters Ena Pugh and Lily Millward were born on January 4 1910 before the outbreak of World War 1 when Queen Victoria’s son Edward VII was king.

The pair still live in the own houses, still meet up for weekly shopping sessions and chat on the telephone virtually every night. Great-grandmother Lily revealed the secret of their long life is ‘laughter and having a joke with each other.’  She said: ‘We used to work on the farm all day, but we would enjoy ourselves.’

‘It was a lot of fun and sociable. We’ve been very lucky and we have always had good health.’ ….Continue Reading

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I pray my husband and I will live to see our son reunited with his child.

Sunday 3 October 2010

Our son has been going through agony in the last 10 years and the knock-on effect has devastated our entire family. We grandparents never got to see our only granddaughter at birth. Why, after paying thousands in solicitor’s fees and eventually getting a contact order, are things not enforced?

Two weeks after the order he arrived at his former home to find the mother had moved away. More fees to hire a private detective. She was found and eventually had to comply with contact.….Continue Reading

Source: BBC NEWS

A police search is under way for a three-year-old boy who has gone missing from his home in Hailsham, East Sussex.

1 October 2010 Last updated at 20:30 GMT

Jack Howlett was reported missing by his mother at 0845 BST on Friday and was last seen when she put him to bed at about 2300 BST on Thursday.

It is believed he could be with his grandfather Stephen Howlett, 52, from Hailsham, who has not been in contact.

Mr Howlett is known to drive a black Vauxhall Vectra 5-door saloon, registration VN51 ENH.….Continue Reading

Source: INDEPENDENT >> Read full article and comment

A new Finnish study published in the September 27 online edition of Archives of Internal Medicine found that elderly women were less likely to fracture their hips if they maintained “moderate lifelong physical activity.”

Thursday, 30 September 2010

Key exercises included balance and leg strength.

Gilbert L. Ross, MD, medical/executive director of The American Council on Science and Health (ACSH), weighed in on the study via an ACSH newsletter and wrote, “Though this is a small study, very few elderly patients who suffer from hip fractures due to falls return to independent living, so balance training is ….Continue Reading

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The family that’s sent SIX generations to the same school…and seen everything from gas masks to brutal canings.

By SARAH CHALMERS
Last updated at 7:54 AM on 27th September 2010

Starting school can be a daunting experience for any child, but when four-year-old Grace Birchenough enrolled at her local primary school, she had a few former pupils on hand to ease her anxiety.

Because when she walked through the gates of St Paul’s in Stalybridge, Greater Manchester, last week she was following in the well-trodden footsteps of five ­generations of her own family.

Not only did her mother Eleanor, now 26, attend, but so, too, did her grandmother, Louise, and great- grandmother, Renee. Then there were Renee’s own mother, Letitia, and grandfather Jonathan (little Grace’s great-great-great grandfather), and a host of other aunts, uncles and cousins.

Here, Grace’s mother, grandmother and great-grandmother share their memories of St Paul’s and explain just what the tiny church school means to them.….Continue Reading

Source: TELEGRAPH >> Read full article and comment

Spain’s “babysitter” grandparents have been called on to take part in a general strike against the human cost of austerity.

By Bruno Waterfield
Published: 9:13PM BST 26 Sep 2010

Source: TELEGRAPH

Joan Harding has celebrated a milestone birthday with a major adrenalin rush.

Published: 1:58PM BST 24 Sep 2010

…Watch Video

Source: Guardian >> Read full article and comment

Union tells Spanish grandparents to down tools if they’re tired of caring for their grandchildren for days on end.

Giles Tremlett
Friday 24 September 2010 19.06 BST

It is the most unlikely of generational revolts, but one that older Britons might just relate to. A call has gone out for grandparents around Spain to down tools this Wednesday and go on strike – because they’re sick to the teeth of all that childcare.

For a country where half of all grandparents look after their grandchildren every day – one in eight for more than nine hours a day – the strike call threatens to disrupt the working lives of a significant proportion of the population and expose the extent to which this unpaid work is propping up the economy.….Continue Reading

Source: TELEGRAPH >> Read full article and comment

Five family members have been charged with child cruelty after allegedly keeping a brother and sister in makeshift cages at their home, it has emerged.

By Simon Johnson
Published: 1:23PM BST 24 Sep 2010

Source: TELEGRAPH >> Read full article and comment

A growing body of concerned parents and grandparents are setting up pensions for their children to combat fears they could end up in poverty in old age.

By John Greenwood
Published: 10:59AM BST 20 Sep 2010

Source: DAILYMAIL  >> Read full article and comment

A toddler needed 200 stitches in his face after being horrifically injured by his grandmother’s collie.

By Daily Mail Reporter
Last updated at 5:11 PM on 10th September 2010

Two-year-old Joshua Mann underwent emergency surgery but will still be scarred for life following the attack.

Joshua will have to endure further surgery before he can go home to Brockworth, near Gloucester.

His mother, Lisa Mann, 23, spoke of her shock at seeing her bloodied son in hospital. ‘I thought he was going to die. He looked in so much pain,’ she said.All I wanted to do was pick him up and hold him, but I wasn’t allowed.

‘It was the worst feeling ever.’

The attack took place on Saturday when Joshua was at his grandparents’ farm in Andoversford, near Cheltenham.….Continue Reading

Source: TELEGRAPH >> Read full article and comment

A grandfather unearthed a carrot bearing an uncanny resemblence to the Toy Story character Buzz Lightyear while digging up his vegetable patch.

Published: 7:30AM BST 06 Sep 2010

Source: TELEGRAPH >> Read full article and comment

A South Korean grandmother has become a national celebrity by passing her driving test at the 960th attempt.

By Malcolm Moore, in Shanghai
Published: 8:22PM BST 05 Sep 2010

Cha Sa-soon, 69, whose surname coincidentally means “vehicle” in Korean, is now appearing in a prime-time advertisement for Hyundai, Korea‘s largest carmaker.….Continue Reading

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Rise of the SWOFTY (Single women over 50): I’m too busy having fun to be a grandmother

By LIZ HODGKINSON
Last updated at 5:20 PM on 2nd September 2010

Eagerly looking forward to a dreamy dinner on a friend’s boat, my thoughts were interrupted by the phone ringing.  ’Mu-um?’ came the plaintive cry at the other end of the receiver, ‘I don’t suppose you could do any babysitting this weekend?’

‘certainly not,’ I replied briskly. ’You know I need a month’s notice. I have got my own life, you know’. ….Continue Reading

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Vicki and Octavia, our mother and daughter agony aunts, answer your questions.

Published: 7:00AM BST 02 Sep 2010

My daughter has just gone back to full-time work after a year off on maternity leave. My husband and I, both recently retired, adore our grandson and are happy to look after him occasionally. But my daughter is putting pressure on us to commit to the same day each week. Are we selfish to refuse?….Continue Reading

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Two young sisters in perfect health have had their breasts removed to cheat the deadly disease that has claimed the lives of both their mother and grandmother.

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER
Last updated at 9:46 PM on 1st September 2010

Alison Carby, 25, and sister Francesca, 22, both from Birmingham, opted for drastic mastectomy surgery after their mother Angela, their grandmother and two great aunts died from breast cancer. They underwent a genetic test two years ago that revealed they were carrying the inherited cancer gene BRCA2. This gives them an 85 per cent risk of developing the disease. Their older sister Selina, 31, was lucky enough to escape the gene.….Continue Reading

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The mother of a 10-year-old girl mauled by two rottweilers praised the child’s grandmother for helping to save her.

By Karl Mansfield and Hilary Duncanson, PA

Rhianna Kidd was attacked by the dogs while riding her bicycle in Dundee on Sunday.

The primary school pupil was being treated for a fractured jaw yesterday and has had to have plastic surgery.

A 33-year-old woman was charged in connection with the attack under the Dangerous Dogs Act.….Continue Reading

Source: TELEGRAPH >> Read full article and comment

A 10-year-old girl whose jaw was broken in two places by a pair of Rottweilers has become the latest victim of a growing wave of dog attacks across the country.

By Stephen Adams, John Bingham and Simon Johnson
Published: 9:00AM BST 31 Aug 2010

Source: INDEPENDENT >> Read full article and comment

A woman has spoken of the horror moment she saw her 10-year-old granddaughter being mauled by two rottweilers.

Monday, 30 August 2010

The primary school pupil is being treated for a fractured jaw and has had to have plastic surgery. A 33-year-old woman was charged in connection with the attack under the Dangerous Dogs Act.

Irene Grady, the girl’s grandmother, saw the dogs set upon the youngster as she pedalled towards her home in Dryburgh Street in the city. She had been dropped off by her father moments earlier.….Continue Reading

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Quality time, free babysitting and lower costs mean more of us are holidaying with our extended families. But as Julia Webster discovers, there are downsides.

Tuesday, 24 August 2010

I can only conclude that you’re having an affair!” my grandmother bellowed across her paella, waving her glass of Rioja perilously close to my new white holiday dress. There were 19 members of our family, spanning four generations, all sitting round the restaurant table on that balmy Spanish evening. But her eyes were firmly locked on her son – my father – with whom she was apoplectic for flirting with the friend that my cousin had brought along on our family vacation. It was at that moment I realised our holiday was beyond redemption.

My father has always been a flirt. But while his mother normally witnesses his inevitable beeline for women for the odd evening only here and there, we were by now on day nine of a holiday in a remote Spanish villa where there was little to do other than observe each other and our idiosyncrasies.….Continue Reading

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Grannies acting as nannies are making summer holidays ‘three-generational’, a survey has revealed.

Last updated at 3:48 PM on 23rd August 2010

A third of grandparents regularly holiday with their children and grandchildren for the sole purpose of providing child care assistance.The holiday ‘nannies’ are the sign of a growing trend that sees families travelling in larger groups, with grandparents helping parents take a well-earned break by sharing childcare responsibilities.….Continue Reading

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Parents and grandparents keen to save on behalf of their offspring have been snapping up an inflation-busting children’s bond with State-owned bank Northern Rock.

By JO THORNHILL
Last updated at 4:13 PM on 23rd August 2010

The Little Rock Savings Bond, launched on Wednesday last week, is a three-year bond paying four per cent fixed.

The minimum deposit is £1 and the maximum is £20,000. Families can invest either in branches or by post on behalf of children up to 16. But those who want the bond will have to act fast. Northern Rock’s last children’s bond issue, launched earlier this month and offering an attractive five per cent, was pulled from the market after just one week after a deluge of applications.

Inflation slowed in July from 3.2 per cent to 3.1 per cent, but it remains above the Government’s two per cent target for the Consumer Prices Index. Many bonds and savings accounts cannot even match the rate of inflation, which means that the value of savers’ cash is being eroded.….Continue Reading

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It was a scary moment, in between the ghost train and the Zipper Dipper – and then it went online.

Peter Preston
Sunday 22 August 2010 18.00 BST

Some things you never forget. The time, long ago, just as son number two was being born upstairs, when son number one, aged two and a half, slipped out of the front door and went for a walk along the main road. The time number two son, aged 12 months, crawled under the wheels of a donkey cart and was yanked to safety in a trice. The time, only last year, when grandson number five locked himself in the loo at the Imperial War Museum and required an operation only slightly less complex than the Falklands to get him out. But now we’re right up to date on the awful moment front. Welcome to Blackpool Pleasure Beach.….Continue Reading

Source: TELEGRAPH >> Read full article and comment

One third of British families will take grandparents on holiday with them this summer to save on childcare costs, new figures suggest.

Published: 7:00AM BST 21 Aug 2010

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His opponent may have been a stone heavier and 2ft taller. But Tom Baslington was far from out of his depth in this battle of man, or rather boy, versus killing machine.

By ANDREW LEVY
Last updated at 10:16 AM on 19th August 2010

The 11-year-old was out seafishing off Cornwall with his grandfather when he caught the blue shark, which at 7ft 1in dwarfed the 4ft 8in schoolboy.

Under strict rules about landing catches unaided, he had to reel in the big fish alone. Weighing 4st 10lb, he needed an adult to hold on to him while he used both hands to catch the 80lb shark during a 20-minute battle.….Continue Reading

Source: BBC NEWS

If Carwyn James’ school attendance is anything to go by he should have nothing to fear when he collects his A-level results on Thursday.

17 August 2010 Last updated at 10:09 GMT

He has not missed a day since he first went to primary school 13 years ago.

The 18-year-old left Ysgol y Preseli in Pembrokeshire in June and plans on taking a well deserved gap year before studying architecture at university.

It is a family trait as his mother Anne never missed a day’s school, neither did his late grandmother Nellie.….Continue Reading

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Last week’s letter from a grandmother who feels left out of her grandchildren’s lives prompted a huge response – especially from daughters-in-law. Sarah Abell offers advice for them, too .

By Sarah Abell
Published: 7:00AM BST 10 Aug 2010

I felt for Jo and Tom in last week’s column (August 3) and thought the questions you raised for Jo’s mother-in-law, Olivia, to consider were spot on.My husband’s mother behaves in a similar way. After my first baby was born, she drove me mad with kind actions – but all on her terms. It never occurred to her to ask me what support I wanted. It’s not very different 13 years and three more children later.

I recently booked a holiday to Scotland, and my mother-in-law talked endlessly about the problem with midges. She discovered from her friends that Avon sold an excellent insect repellent and suggested I should get some. She called me a week later to check my progress and seemed disappointed I hadn’t done anything. I tried tactfully to explain I was busy. Juggling four children, end-of-term plays, sports days and working full-time meant the repellent was a low priority, and she didn’t offer to order it for me.….Continue Reading

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InsideOut: our relationships expert, Sarah Abell, advises a reader on how to be a supportive grandparent without over-stepping boundries.

By Sarah Abell
Published: 7:00AM BST 03 Aug 2010

I was delighted when my son, Tom, and his wife, Jo, had their baby Tessa. My husband and I live in the same village, and I would call in twice a week, often taking a bunch of flowers for Jo. But when Tessa was nine months old Jo went back to work and we started visiting on a Thursday evening instead. This was the only time we saw them unless there was a wider family gathering.

Then Jo became pregnant again. It wasn’t easy; she would get tired and moody. Our weekly visits became a bind for them so I suggested that they bring Tessa to us instead, to give them a break and to get her used to being at our house in case after the baby was born they needed some help. This offer was sharply declined. Jo said, “I am and will be perfectly capable of looking after Tessa.” However, a few weeks later they did start bringing Tessa to us but we never went to them….Continue Reading

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They’re the modern answer to hot water bottles. But will they burn your house down?

By AMY OLIVER
Last updated at 8:42 AM on 3rd August 2010

For Lynda Townsend, the idea of her elderly mother, Doreen, pouring boiling liquid into a hot-water bottle with her shaky hands had become a worry. What would happen if she burnt herself?

Much better to buy her a ‘wheat bag’, an increasingly popular domestic accessory rather like a mini bean bag, which she could easily heat in the microwave and then use to warm her bed. Or so Mrs Townsend thought.

‘We thought we were doing the right thing buying the wheat bag rather than a hot water bottle,’ she says, her voice starting to break.

‘I do feel guilty about it and still think: “Why wasn’t I there? Why couldn’t I have done anything to help Mum?”‘

Doreen Ghiloni died from smoke inhalation two years ago following a fire caused by the very wheat bag that was supposed to stop her burning herself.

The 82-year-old grandmother from Leeds had heated up the wheat bag in the microwave, as she had done every night, and taken it up to bed with her on a metal tray….Continue Reading

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A grandfather was astonished when he bought a bag of vegetables at the supermarket and found a bizarre aubergine which looks as if it has a huge nose.

Published: 10:17AM BST 02 Aug 2010

Source: GUARDIAN >> Read full article and comment

As a child, Vicky Honour adored her grandfather’s tales of the second world war – how he’d crashed his plane and ended up living in a French chicken coop.

Vicky Honour

Saturday 31 July 2010

Then one day, years later, it dawned on her that his colourful stories were actually true ..When I was little, my grandparents lived in a house underneath a motorway flyover. Aside from the noise, it is the light I remember – strange, glowing tiger stripes on my camp bed from the street lamps, slatting through the blinds. Ethereal, sleepless nights of rumbles and flashes, yet I was never tired. Staying with my grandparents was an adventure and a treat – not a second could be missed….Continue Reading