With over half (55%) of UK kids and teens 7-14 seeing their grandparents each fortnight, their influence over each other is undeniable.
Kids and teens love spending time with their elders and soaking up information and skills from them. Their parents are keen to build strong multi-generational dialogue, with over half of them (56%) agreeing that their child learns from older generations when they spend time together, so are helping drive such interactions.
Using our proprietary Omnibus tool we are able to speak directly to over a million kids and teens each month through beano.com, giving us the unique opportunity to delve deeper into topics.
Nearly half (48%) of 7-14s have learned about their family from their grandparents, possibly discussing and sharing stories to make up for time spent separated because of the pandemic. Grandparents are also forming kids and teens as members of society with over a third (37%) learning manners and being a good person from their grandparents and 33% state that they’ve learned “life lessons”.
Practical life skills also rank highly with nearly two fifths (39%) learning how to bake and cook and almost a third (29%) gardening from their grandparents. And nearly a quarter (23%) have learned how to knit or sew.
For previous generations, clear boundaries have existed between ‘child’ and ‘adult’ content, objects and experiences. But for today’s families, these boundaries are blurring with shared experiences and media.
Just under a half of kids and teens (48%) watch TV and films, enjoy meals (47%) and days out (46%) with their grandparents. Over a quarter (27%) read books and magazines together and over two fifths (44%) play games.
But it’s not a one-way skill exchange. Kids and teens are sharing their skills and experiences with the grandparents. Two out of five (41%) kids and teens say they teach their grandparents about things they have learned about in school and just under a quarter (22%) share home and life hacks to help them.
Technology is a key area where 7-14s are upskilling their grandparents with over a third helping them use a mobile phone (35%) or a computer/tablet (34%). They’re also sharing their past times with over a quarter (26%) showing them how TikTok or Snapchat works.
With these generations merging over the summer holidays, brands and organisations have a new avenue into quality family time. If you’d like to know more, please get in touch and use our brain.
