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LORETTA KEMSLEY

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A few million US grandmas know what's ahead for Katherine Jackson

Seeded on Fri Jul 9, 2010 3:01 PM EDT
Read ArticleArticle Source: Christian Science Monitor
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Seeded by Loretta Kemsley
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Michael Jackson's mother, Katherine Jackson, raised nine children, but the last came of legal age when she was 54. Raising her late son's three children, ages 7 to 12, now, at age 79, would be another challenge unto itself, and it's one that nearly 3 million American families tackle – although they're not necessarily the families you might think they are.

"People's idea about grandparents and grandchildren living together was of an elderly African-American woman living in the inner city with no spouse present," says Kenneth Bryson, director of the National Center on Grandfamilies, in Washington. "That's actually very uncommon."

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Loretta Kemsley

It's true that African-American children are more likely to live with grandparents than white children are, but of all grandparent households, fewer than one-third are African-American. More than 40 percent of grandparent households are white, according to the Census Bureau's most recent American Community Survey, and the remainder are other races and ethnicities.

White, black, or purple, the challenges confronting grandparents who, like Mrs. Jackson, unexpectedly find themselves with young children to raise can be daunting.

  • 1 vote
Reply#1 - Fri Jul 9, 2010 3:02 PM EDT
Dave-792879

Sooner or later she's going to find that three teenagers may be a bit much for a woman in her 80's. I gather that at least a couple of the brothers have stable families and might be better suited for growing children.

Just keep them away from LaToya. Something wrong with that woman.

  • 1 vote
#1.1 - Fri Jul 9, 2010 3:12 PM EDT
Reply
Linda Luke

With 86k a month surely she will do just fine.

    Reply#2 - Fri Jul 9, 2010 10:14 PM EDT
    Loretta Kemsley

    Money can't smooth out everything. It's hard being a grandmother raising grandkids if for no other reason than the hurt that comes from the reason she's doing it. In this case it's death. Other times there are other reasons. All of them leave the kids severely wounded emotionally. It's hard to know how to comfort them and lead them forward while leaving the pain behind.

    She's dealing with children who've been kept away from the family and all other children. That means they have to be taught social skills they should have learned when they were tiny. No easy task.

    • 3 votes
    #2.1 - Sat Jul 10, 2010 12:25 PM EDT
    Linda Luke

    Indeed you are right Loretta Kemsley, but when compared with grandmothers that don't have funds Jackson will be much better able to handle most things.

      #2.2 - Sun Jul 11, 2010 10:54 PM EDT
      Loretta Kemsley

      No doubt money helps, but then she has other burdens that most grandmothers don't have, like paprazzi. I'd rather deal with less money and more privacy. She might be better equiped to handle it seeing as she's been the matriarch of that family for a long time, but dealing with the prying public would drive me out of my mind.

      • 2 votes
      #2.3 - Sun Jul 11, 2010 11:44 PM EDT
      Reply
      jan-1515457

      It is the grandmother's raising grandchildren on a fixed income when the mother, who didn't want to be a mother anyway has split is a hard reality for millions of aging and mostly single american women. Women who don't want to be mothers shouldn't be mothers, and shouldn't be forced to being mothers.

      • 2 votes
      Reply#3 - Sat Jul 10, 2010 8:02 PM EDT
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