Not all are fortunate to become grandparents in their lifetime. People need to live a little longer to see their grandchildren. In this blog post, we will tell our readers about 8 of the world’s youngest grandparents.
In the western countries, the average age of becoming grandparents is 55-65 years. People in the western world marry and have children only after ensuring a strong foothold in their respective fields of profession.
They make the most of their heydays to secure their present and future before marrying and starting a family. Given the cost of living going up with every passing year, this is a good decision on part of the young people. This explains why we don’t see too many young people becoming grandparents.
However, there are exceptions. In this blog, we will share a list of 8 youngest grandparents in the world. Let’s take a quick look at some of the youngest grandparents so far.
Mum-Zi
Can you believe that Mum-Zi gave birth to a baby girl in 1884 at the age of only eight? Excruciating labour pain is a part and parcel of being blessed with motherhood. Hence, it is not hard to imagine how much pain the 8-year old girl suffered in times of delivery. Furthermore, bringing up a child is not easy either.
Mum-Zi used to live in Akwa Akpa. This island is called the city of Calabar, Mum-Zi’s daughter followed her mother’s footsteps and became a mother at the age of eight.
A Fascination Fact: Author Lyell Archibald wrote a book “The Future of Taboo in These Islands”, wherein Mum-Zi was portrayed as a character in Chief Akkiri’s harem in Akwa Akpa, who was later revealed as the father of Mum-Zi’s daughter.
Marcolo Nersta
Marcolo Nersta was only a 17-years old teenager when she became a grandparent. She was from Walkhk, Burma, Marcolo. She got the good news just a few minutes before walking off her school’s graduation stage. Her daughter was just 10 when she gave birth to twins – a boy and a girl.
Fralto, Marcolo’s husband, graduated with her and received the diploma. So, two good news greeted both on the same day. Only they can tell which of these made them happier. However, we can only imagine how difficult it was for a 10-year old girl to bring twins in this world.
Fascinating Fact: Marcolo was only eight and Fralto was seven when they married.
Jewish Damascus Girl
If you flip through the pages of history, you will understand it was common in families to get their daughters married off even before the girls attained a double digit figure in age.
The tradition was kept alive in a Middle Easter Jewish family in 1861. A girl from that family was only 10 years old when she became a mother.
It was an arranged marriage. Parents of both the groom and the bride were enthusiastic about this reunion. The girl birthed a child shortly after her marriage. She was only 11 years old then.
Fascinating Fact: The Jews girl from Damascus was a grandmother by the time she attained the age of 21. She is one of the world’s youngest grandparents from the Middle East.
Rifca Stanescu
The girls in the Roma Community get married and have babies soon after the onset of puberty. Rifca Stanescu gave birth to her daughter Maria when she was only a 12-year old teen.
By the time she was 23, Rifca became a grandparent. The name of Maria’s husband was Ion and their baby boy was named Ionel.
These days, most girls and their families cannot even think of such an early parenthood, leave alone grandparenthood.
The girls, who are married off at such a young age, are saddled with the kind of responsibilities that they are hardly prepared for. It inflicts all kinds of psychological trauma on a prepubescent girl or a girl who has just attained puberty.
Rifca understood it and so, told her daughter to complete her education. In 2011, Rifca told a publication, “I am happy to be a grandmother but I wished something else for Maria – and something else for me.”
Fascinating Fact: Rifca’s marriage was arranged when she was only just 2-years old. After knowing it, she revolted later and eloped with 11-year old Ionel Stanescu, a jewellery seller. They got married and shortly after, Rifca gave birth to Maria.
Nikola Kostic
Nikola Kostic sired a son when she was only 13-years old. He named his boy Stamko who followed his father’s footprints by becoming a father at the age of 13. Therefore, Nikola became one of the youngest grandfathers in the world when he was only 26.
Nikola was proud after getting the news of his becoming grandfather. He also made a YouTube video where he was boasting how his son, after becoming a father at such a young age, had made headlines in German newspapers. He also showed off a picture of five generations of men in his family. The pride in his bloodline was evident on his face.
Fascinating Fact: Kostic’s parents became great grandparents in their mid-40s. Hence, where Nikola and his wife were celebrating the news of their becoming grandparents at such a young age, his parents were happy with their grandson becoming a father as it made them one of the youngest great grandparents not only in Germany but in the world.
Tam Gallacher
Tam Gallacher was only a 19-year old young guy working in a carpet factory. The Scottish married Yvome who was 14 years senior to him. The 33-year old woman had an 11-year old daughter Sheryl from her previous marriage.
Though Tam was not the biological father of Sheryl, he fulfilled his parental duties as if he had sired the girl.
When Sheryl was 19, she got pregnant with a baby girl. The girl was named Brogan. After Brogan was born, Tam became a grandfather at the age of 27. Though he was a step-grandfather, he always ensured to take best care of both Sheryl and Brogan.
Fascinating Fact: Tom accepted his new relations and responsibilities with great pride and grace. He boasted of having an extremely close-knit family while confessing that becoming a grandparent had been one of the best life-changing things for him.
Belfast Woman
In 2015, an article was published in the Belfast Telegraph, a media outlet in Northern Ireland. The article covered a woman who would be one of the youngest grandmothers in the United Kingdom.
The mother of two children got the news that her 15-year old teenage daughter was pregnant. Any mother could faint at the news. However, the lady’s reaction was something different as she became the mother of a child when she was just 14.
The teenage parents were happy and shared the news on social media. However, the would-be grandmother maintained silence as she did not want the new addition to get unwanted and unnecessary attention from media and unknown persons.
Fascinating Fact: The soon-to-be-parents were showered with love and blessings from their well-wishers and unknown persons as well. They were overwhelmed with joy. The teenage boy’s mother sent a congratulatory note, saying “my precious little bundle so proud of you an [dad’s name] love u.”
The girl’s mother was always supportive of her daughter and the new addition to the family. She ensured that the parents sailed through the difficult times of parenthood as smoothly as possible.
Dale Wrighte
Dale Wrighte was a digger driver in Warwickshire, UK. He became a father at the age of only 14 years.
All the grandparents listed in this post have the same story – their children, like them, became parents at a young age. From that, you can guess how much influence parents have on their children.
It happened with Stephan, Dale’s son. When Stephen became a father, he was 14. Both Stephan and his girlfriend were of the same age. Dale turned a grandparent at the age of 29, becoming the youngest grandfather in Britain in 1997.
With parenthood, come some responsibilities. And dealing with these is always daunting even for the adults. However, Dale supported the duo with his youthful energy. He is considered one of the coolest, happiest and off course, youngest grandparents in the UK.
Fascinating Fact: Dale was initially apprehensive of his son’s decision of having a child at such an early age but admitted later by saying, “I wish it hadn’t happened, but I couldn’t shout at Stephen too much – I’d done the same thing.”
Final Words
In this blog post, we have shared only 8 of the world’s youngest grandparents. One thing is common to all of them – none of them was ashamed of becoming parents and grandparents at such a young age. In fact, they are all proud of having started their family when they were only teens. Their children also followed their example.
One of the big advantages of becoming grandparents at a young age is both age and ability are on their side, which enable them to do things that aged grandparents cannot. They are appreciative of seeing their fourth and fifth generation in their lifetime and consider themselves lucky.
Summary: In this blog post, we have shared about 8 persons who are considered among the world’s youngest grandparents. They became grandparents at the age when most people marry.
