Paid Job and Grandparenthood in a City: Individual Reconciliation Practices

The age of retirement in Lithuania is being increased from age 55/60 for women/men in 1995 to 65/65 in 2026 in response to the challenges of population ageing. This causes emergence of a substantial category of “working grandparents”. Similar to other East European countries, due to family traditions and limitations of public child care system grandparents traditionally are seen as help-providers in the care of grandchildren and in Lithuania more than half (55.2%) among employed grandparents are involved in such a care (Kraniauskienė, Gedvilaitė-Kordušienė, 2012). However, the interplay between work and family has been mostly analysed from the perspective of childcare and employment of parents (Jonkarytė, 2003; Reingardė, 2009) whereas the issue of working grandparents is underdeveloped.

It is reasonable to ask what possible new tensions appear when trying to reconcile the roles of labor-market-participants and grandparents? Is the traditional provision of intensive grandparent childcare in danger? If and how the extended working life changes the perception of grandparenthood as well as perceptions of "good" grandmother and grandfather? How it affects intergenerational relations, family and personal life?

Original qualitative research is conducted aiming to answer the above questions. Research participants have been purposely selected: a participant must be currently employed; must currently have at least one grandchild of “dependent” age (under 10); and both a grandparent and a grandchild (grandchildren) must live in the same city. Also, recruitment follows principle of diversity seeking to involve both grandfathers and grandmothers, different forms of family arrangements, different types of employment statuses and positions. Whenever possible, research seeks to capture dyad of two generations: a grandparent and a grand-child. In-depth semi-structured individual interviews are being conducted with each participant.