“Our daughter is seeing a man and with a bad track record. She has already been married once before. The problem we have is the impact her life has upon her children. The children (9 and 7) are torn between their mother, father, and the new man. They want to be loyal to all the adults in their lives but it seems no one stays for very long. The children get let down constantly. As grandparents we try to be as consistent as possible without interfering in our daughter’s affairs. Our only issue is the amount it affects the lives of our grandchildren and we often talk about how this will impact their relationships one day.”

Like each adult must, you grandchildren will face their individual histories and have to decide to make the best of what they have been offered.

Few people, without considerable work, can break the orbit a parent provides and so, yes, it is likely (although by no means inescapable) that your grandchildren will face some relational issues in their futures.

Continue to provide the sound platform you do provide, and trust the children to gain progressive and helpful insight into their lives.

Your job is to continually expose them to what is possible in a healthy relationship.