I don’t think there is a name for children who have not had grandparents from birth, but I am one of those children and I have called myself for the purposes of this post, a Grandchild Orphan.

I am a man in my fifties, married with three children,and they have been blessed with grandparents from their maternal and paternal side throughout their lives.

I am curious about the sense of identity which grandparents bring to a child’s life.

Assuming that they are loving and guiding, I have seen how grandparents bring a stabilizing and supportive dimension to the relationship between children and their parents and can be the means of mediation and reconciliation between them.

I have seen how my own children have had somewhere to go when they have felt frustrated by a decision taken for them by me or my wife when they were growing up, and even now as young adults they have somewhere to go to sound out their frustrations with a whole range of issues.

I think that the biggest loss that I had from not having grandparents was that my own parents did not have someone stood behind then offering their love and support and handling the complexities and demands of bringing up children.

I appreciate my own parents for the amazing love and support which they gave to me in the absence of having their own parents to turn to for support.

When I met the girl who was to become my wife, when she was 16 years old and I was 17 years old, she had a grandma.

Her grandma was a real character with whom I formed a close bond. She said to me, what will you call me William?

I said, I will call you Grandma and so ended my life as a Grandchild Orphan

My next blog will be: Disappointment

William Defoe