Do Grandparents Contribute to Their Grandchildren’s Learning through Shared Leisure Activities?

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I enjoyed reading this paper, with its focus on joint grandparent-grandchild activities, leading up to a discussion about schools encouraging grandparent involvement. However, I have a number of comments the authors may like to take into account before the work is published.

I think figure 2 would be more informative if the responses were divided between the age groups, e.g. 6-9 and 10-12. The items could be sorted according to the fraction of responses mentioning learning in connection with the activities. I am also a bit confused about what the numbers mean – I would be curious to know also to what extent the activities are shared, but without the children claiming that the grandparents teach them (e.g. I am suprised about the 0 for museum visits).

Both in figure 2 and 3, it should be made clear if the results are presented as numbers or fractions. In any case the caption should state the number of respondents (even if given in the text – figure captions should be able to be read on their own).

Section 3 is hard to read. Subheading for the different items might help – as would reformatting of the tables. I don't think that "in northern Spain" needs to be mentioned for every item, possibly in a few lines introducing the organization of the section.

Line 270: I think the statement about "more able to teach their grandchildren" needs to be rephrased to what is actually measured. Also lines 311-313 about "not have a clear impact on intergenerational learning" should be rephrased.

I was also a bit surprised that the researchers didn't seem to have asked grandparents about the joint activities, and their views of the related learning.

 

Comments on the Quality of English Language

In the caption to figure 2, I would prefer if "share every leisure activity" were replaced by "share different leisure activities".

Line 127: In English, the word "infant" describes children considerably younger than the 6-12 age group discussed in the paper.

Author Response

Responses to REV1:

I think figure 2 would be more informative if the responses were divided between the age groups, e.g. 6-9 and 10-12. the 0 The items could be sorted according to the fraction of responses mentioning learning in connection with the activities. I am also a bit confused about what the numbers mean.

Figure 2 has been modified in response to the reviewer's suggestion. Now it presents the data divided between the age groups ( 6-9 years and 10-12 years).

The numbers reflect the absolute value of the children participating in the survey who share different leisure activities with their grandparents because they learn from them. This clarification has been included in the text.

– I would be curious to know also to what extent the activities are shared, but without the children claiming that the grandparents teach them (e.g. I am suprised about for museum visits).

One in thirty respondents goes to visit museums with their grandparents. However, none of them highlight this shared leisure activity because of what their grandparents can teach them. This clarification has been included in the text.

 

Both in figure 2 and 3, it should be made clear if the results are presented as numbers or fractions. In any case the caption should state the number of respondents (even if given in the text – figure captions should be able to be read on their own).

Figure 3. The numbers reflect the absolute value of the children participating in the survey who share reading, gardening, art activities and games with their grandmothers and grandfathers because they feel they learn from them. This clarification has been included in the text.

 

Section 3 is hard to read. Subheading for the different items might help – as would reformatting of the tables. I don't think that "in northern Spain" needs to be mentioned for every item, possibly in a few lines introducing the organization of the section.

The reviewer's suggestion has been followed, subheadings have been included to help reading and the expression 'in northern Spain' has been deleted in several paragraphs.

Line 270: I think the statement about "more able to teach their grandchildren" needs to be rephrased to what is actually measured. Also lines 311-313 about "not have a clear impact on intergenerational learning" should be rephrased.

Both suggestions have been followed.

We have changed the expression to be more explicit; now it reads: “felt that they can teach their grandchildren”. The term "felt" is used to stress that the information obtained was based on the what the surveyees transmitted to us from their point of view.

We have changed the expression "not have a clear impact on intergenerational learning", now it reads: “not have a clear impact on the learning of their grandchildren”.

I was also a bit surprised that the researchers didn't seem to have asked grandparents about the joint activities, and their views of the related learning.

The research focuses on leisure activities shared by grandparents and grandchildren, from the perspective of the grandchildren

In the caption to figure 2, I would prefer if "share every leisure activity" were replaced by "share different leisure activities".

The reviewer's suggestion has been followed and the expression "share every leisure activity" has been replaced by “share different leisure activities".

Line 127: In English, the word "infant" describes children considerably younger than the 6-12 age group discussed in the paper.

The term "infant" has been replaced by “children”.

Best regards

Reviewer 2 Report

Comments and Suggestions for Authors

I really do like your approach in this topic. The impact of grandparents on their grandchild is important to consider. Also the topic of learning and leisure is an important one. please drop the beginning word, 'nowadays.' this paper should go further, you are describing the impact of caring grandparents on their grandchildren, as seen in various leisure activities; however, you do not give us anything to compare with, maybe their grades? compared with others who do not have some involved grandparents? or you could change the title to - exploration of involved grandparents in the leisure time of grandchildren - 

 

 

Author Response

RESPONSES TO REV2:

Please drop the beginning word, 'nowadays.' this paper should go further, you are describing the impact of caring grandparents on their grandchildren, as seen in various leisure activities; however, you do not give us anything to compare with, maybe their grades? compared with others who do not have some involved grandparents? or you could change the title to - exploration of involved grandparents in the leisure time of grandchildren –

The term 'nowadays' has been deleted.

The title has been changed. The new title is “Do Grandparents Contribute To Their Grandchildren's Learning Through Shared Leisure Activities?”

Best regards,