Grandparents carry the childcare – but not without limits
Almost four in ten households with younger children use grandparents' help. This major contribution only works with clear agreements.
Around the family table, it takes little time to agree who will pick up the children next week. One afternoon, one lunch, perhaps an extra day when something gets in the way. Individual promises can turn into a fixed part of the weekly schedule. Grandparent care often begins in the private sphere; its significance reaches far beyond the individual family.
The Federal Statistical Office puts a figure on this role in its report on supplementary childcare: in 2023, 38.7 percent of households with at least one child under 13 used care by grandparents in an ordinary week. That means just under four in ten such households – not four in ten children, and not four in ten grandparents.
A major contribution, two different measurements
The FSO report also cites around 157 million hours of childcare by grandparents per year. These hours come from the unpaid work module of the Swiss Labour Force Survey 2024. The household shares, by contrast, are based on the Survey on Families and Generations 2023.
Both figures show the significance of the same activity, yet they measure different things. Anyone who simply divides the hours by the households of another survey creates a seemingly precise average of care without a matching data basis. For political classification, the more robust statement is enough: grandparents provide care on a considerable scale that appears neither in a daycare place nor on a payslip.
The help does not always replace institutional provision either. According to the FSO, 55 percent of the households that use grandparent care combine it with other forms of childcare. Grandparents and daycare are therefore often parts of the same solution. The notion that families always choose either one or the other falls short.
Closeness is an advantage – and needs boundaries
Time spent together can be valuable for children and grandparents alike. The statistical view of hours delivered captures this relationship only incompletely. Nor does it say whether someone takes on the task gladly or hardly dares to say no any more. Either can lie behind the same day of care.
In a specialist article by Pro Senectute Luzern, ZHAW expert Franziska Widmer explained in 2022 why expectations should be clarified early. Her practical recommendation: offer rather less than the maximum possible care and take one's own needs seriously. An agreement should match actual capacity, not merely a favourable week.
A simple distinction follows from this. Stepping in occasionally is something different from a binding weekday. Anyone who mixes these forms risks disappointment on both sides: the parents rely on the help, while the grandparents understood their commitment as an exception. A conversation about scope and commitment is therefore not a bureaucratic imposition but relationship care.
What a workable agreement should include
Concrete questions help: Which days are firmly committed? What applies during the holidays? Who organises an alternative in case of illness? Which rules matter most to the parents, and where may grandparents shape their own daily routine? Such points are easier to discuss before a bottleneck than between two last-minute phone calls.
Commitments should nevertheless remain reviewable. Working hours, health and the children's needs change. A solution that fitted a year ago need not work today. Renegotiating does not mean withdrawing from the family. It can prevent voluntary support from becoming an excessive burden in the long run.
The reverse also holds: parents need reliability when they organise paid work and childcare. A clear, smaller commitment can help them more than a generous promise of uncertain duration. Backup options are not a vote of no confidence in the grandparents but a protection for everyone involved.
No invisible reserve
For Switzerland, a sober consequence follows. The major contribution made by grandparents must not be confused with unlimited availability. Public childcare provision and workplace compatibility cannot be judged on the reference to family help alone. Some families have this option; others do not.
At the Sunday table, no macroeconomic calculation is needed for that. It is enough not to treat the next request as an automatic commitment. Good grandparent care is reliable – precisely because its limits, too, may be spoken aloud.
