grandparenting

1. 1
   noununcountable

   The ongoing work of helping to raise and care for one's children's children.

   Like a second turn at parenting, with the sharp edges worn off.

   Modern grandparenting often involves regular childcare while both parents hold full-time jobs.

   She approached grandparenting with the same energy she once gave to her career.

   Note

   A word made by analogy: grandparent plus -ing, shaped after the older parenting. It inherits that word's view of family as work done rather than a relation held. It is a mass noun with no plural, and it sits comfortably in the language of research. Madeline Holcombe's 2021 reporting speaks of a grandmother's brain being "activated with grandparenting." Because grandparent covers both sexes, so does this.

2. 2
   verb

   Present participle of grandparent.

   These days she is grandparenting while her daughter finishes medical school.

   Many retirees find themselves grandparenting around the clock.

   Note

   The -ing form working as a true verb, and the test is what follows it. The verb takes adverbs and objects: grandparenting around the clock, grandparenting her daughter's twins. The noun for the role takes adjectives instead, as in modern grandparenting. The two share a spelling. The gerund use sits between them and slides toward the noun whenever the activity itself, rather than someone doing it, is named.

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