Daily routines
Grandparents were keenly aware of the needs of siblings especially during the ill child’s prolonged hospitalizations. Although some described their caregiving activities as babysitting, their descriptions of what they did reflected much more than child care during the periodic and sometimes prolonged absences of the parents. In all families, it was apparent that grandparents temporarily took up the role of parenting siblings, either by living with their children’s family or having the siblings at their own homes, during the numerous trips parents made to the hospital with the ill child. They ensured that the siblings were fed well, had their rest, and were dropped off or picked up from activities such as nursery school: