The reference in the article to the show thirtysomething was interesting. My mother, an early Boomer and I, a late model Gen X-er, then an early teen, used to watch that show with religious fever way back when. Tuesday nights at 10, that's where we were, checking out the trials and tribulations of 1980s Philadelphia yuppies. It was so far from the life we knew.
Fast forward a couple of decades my mother came for a visit in my thirtysomething widowhood. I'd bought a house which almost immediately went underwater in value. Plus there were some necessary emergency repairs. The small business I acquired used up a lot of my ready cash for the deposit and required monthly payments to the original owner. I was working like crazy and had no income. On top of which my toddler daughter was in an expensive preschool (the older kids had Montessori and the baby was going to have it too!) There were payments to the lawyer who was handling the legal guardianship of my teenage stepdaughter. My son wanted to join Little League so there were expenses for the uniform plus the fees involved. I was wrangling with the car insurance company over a payout for an uninsured motorist death benefit claim. You get the picture. My finances were in total disarray. At some point in our conversation/my tale of woe, I had to get up to...change a diaper? Referee a fight? Change the channel to Clifford the Big Red Dog? I came back to the dining room table and my mother had written a check out to me for $15,000 dollars. I didn't want to take it but I knew I had to.
A few years later when everything evened out, the house was behaving, youngest DD was in public kindergarten, the insurance came through, my business was up and running, I attempted to pay my mother back. She confided that she'd given similar amounts to my older sisters to fund one BIL's rehab, the other sister's tax troubles and didn't wish or need to be repaid. In her mind it would come out on the other end. I was to accept the gift in the spirit it was given. As others have said here, it was a transfer of intergenerational wealth.
In regards to free childcare, my children's other grandmother has been free and easy with her gifts. My children are her only grandchildren. As opposed to my own mother who, between her and my stepfather who had between them 11. All it took for my MIL in a phone conversation about the stress I had about late summer work, camps ending, daycare break and the upcoming school year, was for her to board the next plane out to the west coast to jump in and help me out for a month. Which then became a yearly thing and to this day I gratefully accept. She's happy to do it! And not only that will do things like clean out the fridge, sort through outgrown clothing and kid stuff, and take the kids shopping for new school clothes and supplies. And pay for it. There's a part of me who thinks I need to be in charge of all the things all the time and another that says, just go for it.
I willingly pay for the oldest's cellphone and healthcare. As of this month, she's on her on, has landed a great job with benefits. I do know the younger two will need my help in the years to come. I have it , it's budgeted for and I'm happy to provide minimal comforts. Like my own mother I do believe in a bootstrappy way of bringing up children, but realistically understand that some assistance is needed.