Grandparents Week – October 27-November 1, 2023

History of Grandparents Week

While having grandparents is a fairly common phenomenon today, this wasn’t always the case. It was only recently, in the course of human history, that people have lived long enough to be grandparents for a considerable amount of time. Grandparents first became common around 30,000 years ago, according to archaeological evidence found in Europe. This rise in life expectancy is often attributed as the reason for an “explosion of new tool types and art forms” in Europe, and also the reason why modern humans outlived others in the homo genus, like the Neanderthals. What is not certain, however, is what caused this hike in longevity.

The use of the prefix ‘grand’ can be dated back to the beginning of the 13th century. It is derived from the Anglo-French ‘graund’ and Latin ‘magnus.’ Grandparents are referred to as many variations of the words ‘grandmother’ and ‘grandfather.’ In English, they can be referred to as grandpa/ grandma, gramps/ granny, or nan/ pop. In many other parts of the world, there are different names for paternal and maternal grandparents. For example, in much of South Asia, a person’s maternal grandparents are referred to as ‘nana’ (grandfather) and ‘nani’ (grandmother), whilst paternal grandparents are referred to as ‘dada’ (grandfather) and ‘dadi’ (grandmother).

Grandparents have played varying roles in childcare throughout history and across cultures. Today, it is common to see grandparents helping their children by babysitting.