The study is devoted to the old age as a specific period of life, conditioned culturally, politically, socially and economically and variable in history. On the basis of the status of the oldest members of a traditional family and the society the author points out changes in the life of seniors from the period of the industrial revolution to the present. The role of grandparents and retirement are perceived by the society and the state as two milestones changing the status of individuals within the family and within the population. On the other hand there is perception of self in the new life situation, personal experiencing the retirement age, life strategies and perception of aging in everyday life.
This paper is focused on differences in the roles of parent and grandparent from the perspective of individuals who have had experience with both roles. The work is based on a secondary analysis of eighteen semi-structured interviews with younger seniors. Using grounded theory, the authors identified two categories of fundamental differences between these roles. The first category describes differences between the value that respondents attributed to the time spent together with their grandchild or child. Respondents more enjoyed the time that they spent with their grandchild than with their child. The second category deals with the higher degree of fear associated with caring for grandchildren than taking care of their own child.