Childcare Crisis During the Pandemic: Analysing the Role of Grandparents in Multi-Generational Households

Abstract

The COVID-19 crisis has dramatically altered our lives-both at the micro and macro levels. Apart from bringing in deaths, illnesses and devastations, it also struck at the most elementary level of our society - the children. The pandemic has forced educational institutions and offices to shift to an online mode, thus intensifying the already existing childcare crisis. In the midst of such an existential crisis, it is interesting to note that in many families, grandparents have stepped in for helping out their adult children who are already overwhelmed by work pressure, childcare and household responsibilities. Against such a background, an attempt has been made to understand the challenges that the grandparents have experienced in dealing with the pandemic childcare crisis. The paper also aims to understand the qualitative contribution of grandparents towards their children, grandkids and the coping strategies that the senior and middle generations have used in fighting with this unprecedented crisis.