Indulge me, Grandpa －ぼくを甘やかして、おじいちゃん－

Thank you for filling out this short survey about looking after children.  Find out what kind of care-giver you are at the end of the survey.

Question 1:

The child is in a bad mood, and won’t stop screaming and shouting, even though there seems to be no reason for it.  Do you...

A – Grit your teeth and wait for the temper tantrum to pass?

B – Run into the kitchen to get some sugary snacks and bribe the child into being quiet?

Question 2:

The child is full of energy and constantly asks you to play or run around with them.  Do you...

A – Run around and play with the child, as far as your own energy will allow?

B – Turn on the television and try to get the child to sit quietly for a while to give you peace?

Question 3:

You are desperate for a cigarette, but have to stay in and look after the child.  Do you...

A – Chew some chewing gum and try hard not to think about cigarettes?

B – Think to yourself, “What the hell - just one won’t hurt the baby!” and smoke a cigarette?

If your answers were mostly As – You are probably a parent.

If your answers were mostly Bs – You are probably a grandparent.

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That’s unfair, of course.  Many grandparents are great at looking after children.  I wish my parents were close enough to help look after my son from time to time.

But a recent study by Glasgow University showed that being regularly cared for by a grandparent can have a negative effect on a child’s health.  People who had often been looked after by their grandparents when they were children had, on average, worse health than those who hadn’t.  The researchers said that grandparents often indulge the children with sweets and unhealthy snacks.  They also on average give the children less exercise, and smoke more often in front of them.  All of these factors combine to give the children poorer health later in life.

But let’s not take the results of this research too far.  Part of the role of grandparents is to indulge children.  How sad would it be as a child if you were taken to your grandparents to eat dry carrots and rye bread, and to run on an exercise machine?

Vocabulary:

to indulge someone – to treat someone to luxury

to grit one’s teeth – to press one’s teeth together hard in order to bear something difficult such as pain or frustration

a temper tantrum – a sudden childish display of anger

to bribe someone – to pay someone with money or gifts to win their favour

“What the hell” – In this article, the phrase is used to show that someone has decided to give up, or has decided to indulge themselves (eg. “I probably shouldn’t do it.  Oh, what the hell!  I’ll just do it.”)

to have a negative effect on something – to make something worse

a factor – one cause when there is more than one cause