With longer life expectancy, more grandads and grannies are likely to spend more time with their grandchildren - and to help with the childcare while mums and dads are at work.
Grandparents often joke that their job is to spoil the grandchildren but type of behavior constitutes spoiling, and does such behavior put grandparents on shaky ground?
Those who spoil their grandchildren by giving them too much food and spoiling them with sweets are becoming bad for their offspring's health, a report has said.
Researchers from the University of Glasgow said children's lifestyles are established when they are young, especially when it comes to diet and physical activity.
Smoking, diet and weight are key factors for later life, especially in relation to cancer. This, the report suggests, puts children at risk of picking up bad habits from their grandparents that can affect their lives as they grow up, the Gloucestershire Live reports.
This includes giving children too many treats, not taking them out for exercise, and even smoking in front of them.
The report, published in PLOS One journal , found the following based on 56 studies carried out in 18 countries, including the UK, the United States and China.
Diet: Similar to weight, grandparents overall appeared to have an adverse impact on their grandchildren’s diets
Weight : The evidence was strongest for grandparents having an adverse impact on children's weight outcomes.
Physical activity: The evidence relating to children's activity was less conclusive than for diet and weight, however, there was still greater evidence that grandparents' actions had an adverse impact on grandchildren's outcomes.
The report was headed up by lead researcher Stephanie Chambers, who said: "The weight of the evidence within this review found that grandparents had an adverse impact on their grandchildren's cancer risk factors."
Prof Linda Bauld, from Cancer Research UK, which part-funded the study, told the BBC : "With both smoking and obesity being the two biggest preventable causes of cancer in the UK, it's important for the whole family to work together. If healthy habits begin early in life, it's much easier to continue them as an adult."
We'd love to know what you think of the research and tell us about the role grandparents have in your life, or your children's lives. Contact us at editorial@burtonmail.co.uk or via Facebook and twitter.
