With more and more families needing the income of both parents to support their children and lifestyles, many are turning to grandparents for additional childcare. This has spawned the term ‛granny nanny', where grandparents are called upon to fill in if childcare support is unavailable or just not an option due to expense.

A survey conducted this year revealed that two in three families in which both parents work now rely on grandparents to provide this free form of childcare and with 13.3 million working women in Britain, more than half with full-time jobs, it is no wonder that grandparents are called upon to help.

Is this really fair however? There are various arguments for and against the use of grandmothers and grandfathers for childcare substitutes. It should be remembered that they are often more than happy anyway to get a chance to spend time with their grandchildren and often like to fill their days with this kind of activity as it makes them feel much younger than they are! They are always easy to get hold of and are rarely busy with other engagements which is a huge bonus if last minute cover is needed.

As parents themselves, they are well suited to looking after children but having worked on average for 40 years and very probably happily retired, the prospect of looking after more children may not be as appealing as it is for the children and their parents. It is essential that grandparents are seen not simply as ‛super grannies' who are able to drop anything and act as nannies whatever the situation but are called upon only in certain circumstances. If not, you may find that they end up charging as much as traditional childcare providers!