Young parents who want to use Grandparents’ free babysitting service can use it as an argument: Caring for your grandchildren’s children makes you young. It’s wisdom from life that fits in the court, but now science has taken a critical look at it.
A word of caution: These young parents may not read more. Otherwise, don’t let Grandpa and Grandma read below. Because there is little left of that court wisdom.
reminder
There are indeed beneficial effects of babysitting young children, but the fact that they are your grandchildren negates these effects. Principal researcher Valeria Bourdon explains to the British newspaper The Guardian. “Having grandchildren is A strong reminder of your age† Won’t make you feel younger.”
Yes, it is true that previous studies have It seems to indicate such an effect, the researchers write in the Journals of Gerontology. But previous studies contain a fallacy. They only asked for grandparents and grandmothers to take care of how young they felt. This actually showed that they felt younger than their peers who did not regularly take care of their grandchild.
Suitable for grandparents only
But this way you miss grandparents who stopped serving babysitting because they can no longer handle it because of their age (experience). This way, only grandparents who felt young and fit enough to care for their grandchildren were automatically included in the surveys.
© Submitted by RTL Nieuws
The researchers have now corrected that. In fact, it’s the same research group that conducted one of these previous studies that has now come to this conclusion. They have done so by questioning their research group again since that time.
However, he also took away grandparents who have since stopped babysitting, because they felt like they were getting too old. It was precisely this difference that suddenly there was no longer a measurable rejuvenating effect. “This is the only study that looked at the same people before, during, and after childcare,” Bordon says.
good for others
However, young parents looking for a babysitter can make the conclusions of this research work in their favor in another way. Because even if the effect of regeneration did not exist for the ancestors, it seemed to be there for others. Seniors looking after young children seem to feel younger if the babysitter is not their grandchild.
