Working families enlist grandparents to help with the kids
Gone, for now, are the days when retirees Bill and Mary Hill could do whatever they pleased. Since school started for their only grandchild, they’re not leisurely reading the morning newspaper, dawdling over a sudoku or staying holed up in their Colorado cabin to beat the Arizona heat.
Instead, they greet 8-year-old Will at the gate of their residential community in suburban Phoenix every school day, often rolling up in their golf cart.
Bill, 71, a former college sports administrator, and Mary, 70, who worked as a nurse practitioner, volunteered to keep Will five days a week and oversee distance learning after their son and daughter-in-law were required to report in person to the school where they teach.