With the the winter school holidays around Australia now over, plenty of grandparents are in need of a break themselves.
They’re part of the ever-growing ‘greycare’ workforce … grandparents who step in to care for their grandkids so their adult children can work. It is a two-income society except, when you think about it, it might actually be three incomes … grandparents just don’t get paid for their contribution to the running of our modern economy and families.
Most do it out of love and a desire to support their children. They’ve already raised families, often on a single income with one parent at home. All they want now is to be appreciated -not taken for granted.
Times have changed. The cost of living and lifestyle means working parents are the norm, rather than the exception.
But what’s the economic impact of ‘grandparenting’ in helping a modern family? What would be the savings on outsourcing that care cost … remembering it’s after-tax saving.
I’m going to try and figure it out …
The ‘varied’ role
Now if we were to break down the daily tasks of a ‘professional grandparent’, obviously the main one would be in providing ‘top-notch childcare’.
But let’s think about what that means. Grandparents tend to adore their grandkids, so I’m thinking ‘greycare’ is unlike any other childcare out there. It is bespoke, deeply loving and tailored to each grandchild and the needs of the family.
I reckon that’s a pretty awesome person for the job.
In addition to ‘champion child wrangler’, we should add the following tasks to the ‘greycare’ job description:
- Food fairy: Providing endless snacks and lunch daily – remembering who likes Vegemite and who is ‘allergic’ to crusts. Feed kids dinner early so they don’t morph into gremlins – bonus points for leftovers when the parents get home.
- Nurse/mystical healer: Administer band-aids, hugs, and magic for minor ailments. On-call for surprise sick days.
- On-demand taxi: Transport grandkids to/from activities, playdates and, on occasion, the emergency department. (Mileage: $1/km.)
- Housekeeper hero: Stack and unstack dishwasher until you can no longer remember if it’s clean or dirty. Sort a mountain of washing, pick up 1,000 + toys and maintain house to a ‘mildly destroyed by day’s end’ level.
- Entertainer/best friend: Kick a soccer ball, build forts, play UNO for the 47th time, make loom band bracelets and basically be a (insert age) kid’s buddy.
- Human Siri: Field questions like, “How many dwarf planets are there?” – no Googling allowed.
Relationship coach: Help little ones navigate friendship and sibling spats. “No, you don’t get to be the hide ‘n’ seek finder every time …” - Hidden educator: Teach life skills without even trying. A trip to the shops with pocket money is a crash course in budgeting and financial literacy. Baking muffins doubles as a hands-on science lesson (“eggs bind the mixture”).
Compensating grandparents
Now to add it all up. First up, let’s establish the benchmarks:
- Long day care can cost anywhere between $70 and $190 a day depending on where you live.
- Family day care is $60 to $150 a day with hourly rates of $10-20.
- Occasional care is $10-15 an hour.
- After school hours care is $15-40 per session.
But all these costs are for group care rather than individual care.
The average cost of a nanny in Australia is $30-45 an hour… at, say, $35 an hour it totals $280 for an eight-hour day. But lots of grandparents work more than this, starting early when their adult kids leave for work and finishing when they come home. So, let’s say the day is roughly 10 hours… that’s $350.
We also need to increase the nanny rate to take into account the additional services offered, such as private chauffeur, personal chef, cleaner, counsellor, casual nurse and full-time child entertainer – I think we might be in the realm of $400 + a day (I’m being conservative here).
Then there are also ‘grandparenting expenses’ – such as sushi rolls for the kids when at the shops, an ice cream for everyone at the beach, movie tickets (plus snacks) which all add up, not to mention mileage for all the collecting and dropping off that comes with the job. As I mentioned earlier at $1km, that adds up pretty quickly.
Whilst some of these expenses can be foreseen and accounted for in the form of a ‘spending amount’ for the day by the adult kids, grandparents often foot the bill for incidental costs.
So, now I am thinking this equation:
- $400 day rate + $50-ish in expenses + $30 in mileage + bonus rates for being on-call + the fact that this is an exclusive role which only four people in the world could do – assuming the child has two sets of grandparents. The grand total? Somewhere in the vicinity of $500 a day.
- For one day a week that’s an economic benefit of $24,000 for a 48-week year. Even at a once-a-week $150 a day childcare rate, the savings is $7,200 a year.
The real compensation
Let’s be honest though, grandparenting is a labour of love. The ‘rewards’ are beyond compensation, although you will be paid in free fridge artwork and a special bond that is unlike any other.
So, as the school holidays end and the “greycare” workforce collectively exhales, here’s to the unsalaried superheroes – the grandparents.
Keeping the wheels of family life, and the wider economy, turning with love and laughter.
