Living with your grandparents can be a great experience, particularly if you come to appreciate the significant amount of wisdom they’ve acquired through the years. However, like any living situation, it also has its pros and cons.
Pros of living with grandparents
In some cases, it’s not easy to live with your own parents or guardians. They may treat you like a child in every aspect, and it may affect your studies or job. Everything will be decided by them, and you don’t have any right to participate in decision-making. And when they start to give you a lot of pressure, it’s hard for you to ignore it. However, living with your grandparents can solve this problem because they will treat you like a grown-up person.
There are many advantages to living with your grandparents.
Spend Time. First, it’s likely that they are retired so there will be no need for them to work during the day which provides plenty of time for them to spend with you. And since they have retired from their jobs there is a good chance that they have more disposable income than most people your age which means that you’ll have access to more resources than others.
Cost of Living. When you live with your grandparents, you have free rent and can save money that would normally go toward rent and bills. Moreover, when you live with your grandparents, they help with groceries and utilities, so you don’t have to worry about paying for those things when you’re living by yourself.
Gives You Time to Save for College. While you live at home, you can save money for college and focus on doing well in school without having to worry about how you’re going to pay for college later on.
Lessons from Your Grandparents. When you live at home with your grandparents, you learn more about life from your elders and gain valuable knowledge that will help you in the future.
A Sense of Family Bonding. If your parents are divorced or don’t get along very well with one another, living at home might give you the opportunity to bond with the people who raised you or who helped raise you after your parents separated or divorced.
You’ll have more privacy. The good thing about living with your grandparents is that you’ll have more freedom and privacy than staying at home. Your own room is waiting for you there, and nobody will bother you when doing what you like. As long as you do something positive for the family, they won’t care about what time do you get back home or what time do you go out to hang out with friends.
You get more independence. This is also related to the previous point because once they let you alone, they also give you more freedom and independence on what do you want to do.
Living with your grandparents may sound like a dream come true for some kids who have to travel long distances to school or have trouble getting along with their parents.
There are some pros and cons, however, that you should consider before moving in with your grandparents.
Cons of living with your grandparents
If you don’t get along well with them, living with them can be a nightmare. You might feel like you’re a guest in their home rather than being part of the family, and permissiveness could lead you down the wrong path. They may not be able to give you advice about certain issues because of their age, and they might expect too much from you and over-protect you.
You may find it hard to adjust to the lifestyle – eating habits, sleeping habits, etc. You may miss your parents and friends back home.
