A grandfather with his granddaughter

A grandmother with her granddaughter

Grandparents are the father or mother of a person's own father or mother, being respectively a grandfather (also colloquially grandpa, grandad, or gramps, among other less common titles) and grandmother (also grandma, grandam, granny, among other less common titles). The father is defined as the Male Parent of an offspring The Adjective "paternal" refers to father parallel to "maternal" for "Mom" "Mum" and "Mommy" redirect here The father is defined as the Male Parent of an offspring The Adjective "paternal" refers to father parallel to "maternal" for "Mom" "Mum" and "Mommy" redirect here By virtue of being a grandparent, one is also a parent. Everyone has a maximum of four genetic grandparents, eight genetic great-grandparents, sixteen genetic great-great-grandparents, etc. History See also History of genetics The existence of genes was first suggested by Gregor Mendel (1822-1884 who in the 1860s studied inheritance Sometimes these numbers are lower and in the case of having only two or three grandparents sibling or half-sibling incest would be involved. Pedigree collapse is a term created by Robert C Gunderson to describe how marriages between cousins or other relatives deliberate or unknowing make family trees Incest refers to any sexual activity between closely related persons (often within the immediate family that is illegal or socially Taboo.

In cases where the parents are unwilling or unable to provide adequate care for their children, grandparents often take on the role of primary caregivers.

In traditional cultures, grandparents often had a direct and clear role in relation to the care and nurture of children. The nature versus nurture debates concern the relative importance of an individual's innate qualities ("nature" i CHILD syndrome (or congenital hemidysplasia with ichthyosiform erythroderma and limb defects) is a genetic disorder

One can also be a step-grandparent. A step-grandparent can be your parent's stepparent or your stepparent's parent. A stepparent's stepparent is called a step-step-grandparent, etc.

The various words for grandparents can also be used to refer to any elderly person, especially the terms gramps, granny, grandfather, and grandmother.

Titles

The Favorite, by Georgios Iakovidis (1890)

A grandfather teaches his grandson to use a kick scooter

When used as a noun (i. Georgios Jakobides' (Γεώργιος Ιακωβίδης Lesbos 11 Jan 1853 - Athens 13 Dec 1932) was a Greek A kick scooter or push scooter is a small platform with two or more wheels that is propelled by a rider pushing off the ground e. , "…a grandparent walked by"), grandfather and grandmother are usually used, although grandpa/grandma and granny are often used. When preceded by "my…" (i. e. , "…my grandpa walked by"), all forms are common (anywhere from "…my grandfather…" to "…my gramps…"). All forms can be used in plural, but gramps (plural gramps) is rare. Plural is a Grammatical number, typically referring to more than one of the Referent in the real world

In writing, grandfather and grandmother are most common. In speech, grandpa and grandma are most common in the US, where grandfather/-mother is very rare when referring to a grandparent in person. The United States of America —commonly referred to as the In Britain nan, nanny and other variations are often used for grandmother in both writing and speech.

Numerous other variants exist, such as gramp and grandpap for grandfather and grandmom, grandmama and grammy for grandmother, etc. Because of the terms' unavoidable familiarity, there are many simplified versions as well, including grampy, granddaddy, grandpappy, etc.

Given that people may have two living sets of grandparents, some confusion arises from calling two people "grandpa" or "grandma", so often two of the other terms listed above are used for one set of grandparents. Another common solution is to call grandparents by their first names ("Grandpa George", "Grandma Anne", etc. ) or by their family names ("Grandpa Jones", "Grandma Smith"). In America (where most families are of mixed ethnicity), many families call one set of grandparents by their ethnic names (i. e. , Hispanic grandparents might be called "Abuelo" and "Abuela", French grandparents might be called "Pépère" and "Mémère", or Dutch grandparents might be called "Opa" and "Oma"). Hispanic (hispano hispánico hispânico Hispānus adjective from ''Hispānia'', the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula) is a term that historically Legal residents and citizens To be French according to the first article of the Constitution is to be a citizen of France regardless of one's origin race or religion ( The Dutch people ( Dutch:) are the dominant Ethnic group of the Netherlands.

Great-grandparents

The parents of a grandparent are called all the same names (grandfather/-mother, grandpa/-ma, granddad/-am, etc. ) with the prefix "great-" added. Thus, one's father's father's father is a great-grandfather. The same applies to one's great-grandparent's parents (great-great-grandparents).

History of the term

The use of the prefix "grand-" dates from the early 13th century, from Anglo-French graund. The term was used as a translation of Latin magnus. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. ^[1] The prefix "great-" represents a direct translation of magnus to English. ^[2] In Old English, the prefixes ealde- (old) and ieldra- (elder) were used (ealdefæder/-mōdor and ieldrafæder/-mōdor). A great-grandfather was called a þridda fæder (third father), a great-great-grandfather a fēowerða fæder (fourth father), etc.

Grandparents in non-Western culture

In traditional East Asian cultures influenced by Confucianism, filial piety is one of the highest moral values. Confucianism ( is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system originally developed from the teachings of the fifth century B In Confucian thought filial piety ( is one of the Virtues to be cultivated a love and respect for one's parents and ancestors Morality (from the Latin la moralitas "manner character proper behavior" has three principal meanings Grandparents usually exercise their authority on family matters, and their descendants should obey them. This kind of structure has eased with the increasing influence of Western culture and the increasing number of nuclear families. Western culture (sometimes equated with Western Civilization) are terms which are used to refer to Cultures of European origin The term nuclear family developed in the Western world to distinguish the Family group consisting of parents most commonly a Father and Mother

External links

• Grandparenting support database AARP
• Links to Australian grandparent support groups
• Family therapy for grandparents raising grandchildren in crisis

References