It's okay to take care of the grandkids after all. Despite earlier studies suggesting otherwise, new data on nearly 13,000 grandparents between the ages of 50 and 80 show that the extra exertion is not detrimental to the grandparents' health and well-being. There was one exception: grandmothers who began caring for grandchildren whose parents were not present reported initial declines in some areas. The women reported small improvements as custodial care continued.

"These findings suggest that health declines are not an inevitable consequence of grandchild care." the author wrote. "In fact, health declines for grandparent care givers are very much the exception."