"America Runs on Grandparents"

I thought America runs on Dunkin' Donuts? I am sure there used to be a commercial like that, but this isn't about donuts, it is about grandparents.

Debra Whitman, executive vice-president for AARP actually said, "American runs on grandparents. They are really an economic backbone of our country that I don't think many people appreciate." There are 65 million grandparents in this country and 15% of them care for a grandchild daily or almost daily. The stats show that on average grandparents watch their grandchildren 500 hours a year for free.

My wife and I are grandparents of an amazing two-year old girl and we spend right now three days a week babysitting her together and the other two days I do by myself. All together we watch her maybe 35 hours a week and we have no regrets.

She keeps us very active, we laugh a lot like the picture above(not us) and we get a lot of exercise too. She gets to be around other adults and hear things and learn things in addition to what she gets from her parents. I highly recommend it and this was an easy decision for us when we moved across the country. We wanted her to have a great childhood, because not every child has one like she is having.

We are about to expand our babysitting operation.  Our granddaughter is months away from becoming a big sister and a big cousin.  At the beginning of the year we will have two new grandchildren and who knows how we will juggle it, but we will be available for all three grandchildren.

The AARP estimates the total value of the "grandparent economy," combining unpaid care and financial support at $904 billion a year. It's nice to be a part of something so large, but it's even better to be a big part of our granddaughter's life.