Wairarapa Midweek Wed10th January

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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 10, 2024

Wairarapa’s locally owned community newspaper

I N S I D E : R O P E Y AT R I V E R S DA L E P 3

Market sprouts P11

We’re local like you

Richmond Funeral Home

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Property Management Ltd

Your property, our priority.

Phone 06 377 4961 | 186 Chapel St, Kuripuni, Masterton Email office@mastertonrentals.co.nz | www.mastertonrentals.co.nz

www.richmondfuneralhome.co.nz Peter & Jenny Giddens Serving Sth Wairarapa for over 40 years Tried, Trusted and Proven

FOR ALL YOUR FLOORING NEEDS See our advert in Wairarapa Property 97-101 High St North, Carterton Ph 06 379 4055

The longest summer Julia Mahony

julia.mahony@age.co.nz

Handing back kids to their parents at the end of the summer holidays will be a secret relief for many grandparents, after days of non-stop fun, energy, feeding and love. For some grandparents, however, caregiving is a fulltime job and the children are already home. Jonathan and Margaret Hooker co-ordinate the Wairarapa branch of Grandparents Raising Grandchildren [GRG], a national charity offering support and advice. Having already raised four children of their own in the 1970s-80s, in 2019 the Hookers found themselves the primary carers of their two grandsons, then aged four years old and six months old. Now aged 10 and five, the boys have known little else except living full-time with loving grandparents. While the Hookers would not have it any other way, the situation has not been without

challenges, especially on a social level. “It can be quite isolating,” Jonathan told Midweek. “People our age have grandchildren, but after a visit, can send them home. They say to us: ‘We’ve just had the grandchildren overnight and we’re exhausted’.” Now aged in their late 60s and early 70s, the Hookers can’t just “zip off ” and do things socially. “So we tend not to be invited to things – and it isn’t even a conscious act – but we don’t fit the social scenes. Parents with children the boys’ ages are much younger than us and friends our own age have adult children.” The couple said respite for grandparents caring full-time for children is the greatest gift. “It’s the energy levels and being able to get out and do things,” Jonathan said. “The body doesn’t bounce back the same way.” Technology is the biggest difference in parenting today, he said. Continued on page 5 Margaret and Jonathan Hooker can empathise with carers who are raising grandchildren or other young family members. PHOTO/JULIA MAHONY

PHOTO/STOCK.ADOBE.COM

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