{"id":370905,"date":"2025-08-24T23:24:21","date_gmt":"2025-08-24T23:24:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/370905\/"},"modified":"2025-08-24T23:24:21","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T23:24:21","slug":"holidays-with-grandparents-on-the-up-amid-summer-childcare-cost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/370905\/","title":{"rendered":"Holidays with grandparents ‘on the up’ amid summer childcare cost"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"BBCBBC<\/p>\n

Trevor Parry and grandson Elliott spend the summer together while Elliott’s mum looks after his younger sister<\/p>\n

Grandparents looking after their grandchildren during the holidays is part of a growing trend being driven by the cost of living, experts have said.<\/p>\n

“Gramping” – camping trips where the two generations spend time together – is part of skip gen, or skip generation, travel where children go on holiday but their parents stay home.<\/p>\n

Trevor Parry, 68, from Stockport, spends summer holidays with his grandson Elliott, eight, at his caravan in Porthmadog, Gwynedd, and said it “put a new lease of life back into me”.<\/p>\n

Dr Linda Osti, a senior lecturer in tourism management at Bangor University, said a US study showed grandparents wanted to travel with their grandchildren because “they want to create memories”.<\/p>\n

Dr Osti said it had been happening for generations, but there had been “a pick up very recently”. <\/p>\n

She said some studies indicated there had been a “three-digit increase in this type of travel” over the past 10 to 15 years.<\/p>\n

Elliott’s mum Natalie Bass, 39, works and looks after her youngest child Charlotte, five, at home while her son and her dad spend time together.<\/p>\n

During the school holidays Elliott’s parents and sister spend the weekends at the caravan before heading back to Stockport.<\/p>\n

Trevor said: “It’s put a new lease of life back into me that I wouldn’t have had if I’d have been spending the time back home on my own and it makes you feel younger.”<\/p>\n

Elliott said he loved the arrangement: “It’s really good, actually. We go to Pwllheli a lot, he lets me go on the rides in the arcades and we just have time out a lot.”<\/p>\n

\"Natalie<\/p>\n

Natalie Bass said childcare costs led her to look for alternatives<\/p>\n

Natalie said having her dad’s help was essential: “I basically look at childcare and see how much it’s going to cost and see how can we work it out so it’s not too much of a hit for me during the summer holidays.”<\/p>\n

She also said it was “gorgeous” to see the bond growing between Elliott and his “grumpy”. <\/p>\n

“There’s just nothing better. Imagine when he’s older saying: ‘I spent every summer with my grandad’.<\/p>\n

“I didn’t really get that when I was growing up so I just think that’s going to be really nice.”<\/p>\n

\"Avril<\/p>\n

Avril Hackett says her grandchildren are “her life”<\/p>\n

Avril Hackett, 76, from Warrington, Cheshire, described her plot at Treetops Caravan Park near Holywell, Flintshire, as her “safe place”.<\/p>\n

In summer she shares it with her granddaughter Emily, eight, and said: “I love being here more than I love being at home.”<\/p>\n

She is happy to babysit during her holidays to help with childcare costs and said there were other bonuses.<\/p>\n

“It makes you do things that you wouldn’t do when you’re on your own. I wouldn’t go down to the beach on my own but I’d go down with her.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Treetops Caravan Park has seen an increase in ‘skip gen’ holidays<\/p>\n

The British Holiday & Home Parks Association said many of its members reported a rise in “gramping” this year, adding that holiday parks were “generally regarded as a safe environment with minimal vehicle traffic and often provide extensive grounds to explore”.<\/p>\n

Andy Walker, joint managing director of Treetops, added: “I can see that happening more and more. Certainly times are tough for people and grandparents want to help families out as much as they possibly can.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BBC Trevor Parry and grandson Elliott spend the summer together while Elliott’s mum looks after his younger sister…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":370906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[77,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-370905","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115086325813624734","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=370905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/370905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/370906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=370905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=370905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=370905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}