Children grow up without grandparents

Children are growing up having less contact with their grandparents than ever before.

One in five families in the UK with children under ten years old now live more than 100 miles away from their grandparents.

There is also a steady decline in family visits attributed to the distance between families.

This discovery was made in an independent study commissioned by TOMY, who developed the Discovery Forget-Me-Not Photo Album to help babies feel closer to family and friends.

One million families see their grandparents less than once a year, with the average distance between each other increasing to an hours drive away.

Child development expert and author Jacqueline Harding said: “The bond between grandparents and grandchildren is very comforting to a young child as it provides a sense of their place within a community and society. The findings from the TOMY study show modern families are living further apart from relatives and have less contact with them. The trend puts young families at risk from being isolated from their family network, a dynamic which is set to escalate in the near future.”