A Study on the Elderly as a Leaders in Child-rearing: Focusing on Trends in Child-rearing Support Measures

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how the target of child-rearing support has changed from parents to the children themselves, and to identify what is benefits can be expected from the raising of grandchildren by elderly people. The focus is on child-rearing support measures in Japan after 1994, and the measures examined were those undertaken by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, and the Cabinet Office. From the analysis, the following became clear. First, the child-rearing support measures shifted the emphasis from support for parents to support for children, and as children became the target of the measures, there was a refocusing on grandchild-rearing by grandparents. Second, the focus on grandparents is moving toward encouraging the elderly in the community to play an active role in raising grandchildren. Making contributions to the local community through raising grandchildren even after retirement is seen as one of the motivations for life. The study clarifies that what is expected of grandchildren raising by the elderly is not only the educational effect on the development of the grandchildren, but also the creation of motivation for the elderly