Spotted in an editorial in the Sunday Times 24 May 2026: "Grandparents have been found to play a critical role in young lives, exerting a quarter as much influence on a child's educational success as the parents do. Even by the age of 18 months, toddlers who see plenty of Granny and Grandad are pulling ahead."
The trigger for this editorial came from two news items: one about Jennifer Saunders' new status as a celebrity supergran, and one about a recent report published by the Social Mobility Commission entitled "The Role of Families in the Educational Outcomes of Children and Young People."
Neither of these news items specifically mentioned estrangement but the implications are clear: EAC who prevent contact between their children and grandparents for no good reason are doing their children a disservice.
For copyright reasons I can only reproduce an short extract from the editorial here, but you can find the originals at:
www.thetimes.com/life-style/celebrity/article/jennifer-saunders-absolutely-fabulous-interview-tv67twqqm
www.thetimes.com/comment/the-times-view/article/jennifer-saunders-vegetable-patch-grandchildren-grandparents-hmq90kbm5
socialmobility.independent-commission.uk/publication/the-role-of-families-in-the-educational-outcomes-of-children-and-young-people/
The two Times articles are behind a small paywall; the Social Mobility Commission report is free.
