Grandparents as Parents

Are your parents raising your kids?

If that's the case, you are far from alone. According to a new Pew Research Center analysis of Census Bureau data,  roughly 2.9 million children are currently being raised primarily by their grandparents, up from 2.5 million in 2000.

Why this huge jump? Blame the Recession, for the most part. There was a 5 percent leap in the number of children cared for mainly by grandparents between 2007 and 2008 alone. Approximately one out of every ten U.S. children now lives with a grandparent.

Most grandparent primary caregivers are under age 60 (64 percent) and women (62 percent). Over half of  these caregivers have been responsible for at least one grandchild for an extended period - three years or more.

Even more grandparents provide childcare part time. Over a third (39 percent) of grandparents age 65 and older have helped their adult children with childcare in the past 12 months, according to a 2009 Pew Research survey. 

For more on this story, click here.

Moms, have you turned to your parents to help raise your kids? Have they taken on the primary responsibility? Tell us why - and how you feel about it.

Marketers, what are you doing to acknowledge and assist grandparents who are part of this growing trend?