Fieldwork Assignment

For my fieldwork assignment I had a sit down interview with my close friend’s grandmother and a close friend of the family who is a grandfather. I asked them each questions regarding their relationship with their children and grandchildren. I wanted to find out if the relationship a parent has with their child effects how their relationship with their grandchildren will build. Mary and Edward each had different stories to share.
Mary is a mother of eight and a grandmother of sixteen. She finds it hard to form a close bond with all sixteen of her grandchildren. She lives with one of her children, my friend’s mother, so her closest bond is with the two children she lives with. Edward, on the other hand is a father of one with only one grandchild. …show more content…
Since Allie’s father has been out of the picture Edward felt it was his job to take on a sort of father figure for Allie. They also had a lot of time to spend together because he would watch Allie on weekends before she started school so her mother could work. Edward says he fears that as allie grows older she will find herself needing her grandfather less. Mary has a different relationship with her grandchildren. Since she has sixteen grandchildren she finds it difficult to be a significant figure in each of their lives. She lives with one of her children so she finds herself spending most her time with those grandchildren, one in particular. Mary says she wished she had a close bond with each of her grandchildren but she just doesn’t have the time or the opportunities to spend as much time with them. I think grandparents' total number of grandchildren may limit how involved they can be in each grandchild's …show more content…
For example, Edward said he had a close relationship with one of his grandfathers, often playing sports together and just hanging out. Today Edward acts as his grandfather did to him, bringing Allie to sports games, and even attending her own athletic events. The effect of family experiences may carry over into their relationships with future generations. Grandparents who were involved with their own children are likely to produce children who, when they become parents, make special efforts to bring the generations

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