For many people, some of their most cherished childhood memories are of their grandparents.
Having a grandfather and grandmother is something that no child should be deprived of. It adds to the strength of the family unit and helps give your child a much stronger grounding in life.
Apart from anything else, keeping your children’s grandparents nearby can also have massive practice advantages. Given the stresses and strains of modern life, having someone close at hand (someone who has been there and done it all before) is remarkably useful.
Having someone who can do the school run on occasion, can make a nutritious meal at a moment’s notice or can ferry your child to sports practice or music lessons could make a huge difference to your weekly routine and you may be surprised at just how central grandparents are to family life. According to reports, grandparents contribute as much as £647 million a year to their grandchildren through gifted money or even Child Trust Funds (CTF).
Considering their generosity, it’s therefore only understandable that we want to give them something back – but just how can you repay your grandparents for all their love and care?
Help at home
When we reach later life we don’t always want to go through the hassle of running a home. Granted, we all enjoy making our living room look just the way we want it, keeping our fridge fully stocked and having the garden looking nice, but no-one enjoys those boring household chores – especially when mobility might be an issue.
The solution could be to move, ideally somewhere where household maintenance isn’t needed to such a great extent.
Choosing to move home is now a very common decision upon retirement. After all, the type of property that was necessary when working full-time and having children live at home (even if grown up) is not necessarily right for retirees who may cope better with a smaller property that requires less work.
With that in mind, it could be an idea to consider specialist retirement properties – flats and houses that have either been constructed or modified with the retirement lifestyle in mind, such as those provided by McCarthy & Stone.
If you live in London, certain suburbs like Bromley, Sutton and Willesden Green are ideal for retirees as they keep them close to the action of the capital but while still offering a quieter pace of life. McCarthy & Stone have houses for sale in a range of locations so it’s certainly something to consider if you want to help your grandparents find somewhere peaceful and relaxing to spend their retirement – rewarding them for everything they’ve done for you over the years.
