"Too Young" Grandma Gets Shafted at Toy Storeby Michele Cheplic | More from this Blogger 16 Sep 2008 05:13 AM Exactly how young is too young to be a grandparent? The question was raised earlier this month when Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin announced that at 44 years young she would soon be a grandma to her teenage daughter Bristol's child. Turns out Palin has something in common with a Phoenix woman, who at age 49 made headlines when she was considered "too young" to be a grandparent by Toys R Us. The popular retailer recently circulated 20% off coupons to be used on Grandparents Day (September 7th) so doting grandmas and grandpas could treat their offspring to a new toy. Sounds nice, right? Not to Linda Peters. The proud grandma wanted to spoil her grandson by purchasing him a new toy truck and was thrilled when she found the Toys R Us coupon in her local newspaper. According to news reports, Peters cut out the coupon (which incidentally read "We love grandparents") and headed down to the store. That's when things turned ugly. The store reportedly didn't show much love to Peters when she attempted to use the coupon. Unbeknownst to Peters, Toys R Us listed a restriction at the bottom of the coupon stating that grandparents had to be 50 years old. Since Peters is a spry 49 store employees wouldn't allow her to use the coupon, regardless of the fact that she was a legitimate grandparent. "It's discriminatory," Peters told local news reporters. "How do you put an age on a grandparent or a mother or a father, for that matter?" As for Toys R Us execs, they say they are obligated to set guidelines when they offer promotions like the one on Grandparents Day. In this case the nationwide retailer says it was appropriate to establish an age requirement and it offers no apologies for doing so. A disgruntled Peters disagrees and maintains that Toys R Us saves their love for "old" grandparents. "To assume that someone over 50 is a grandparent and that someone under 50 is not a grandparent, it's not fair," Peters said. I happen to know a 46-year-old grandmother and once upon a time I did a story with a woman who became a grandma at age 37. I see where Toys R Us is coming from, but if Peters could prove that she was a legitimate grandparent, I say give her the piddly rate reduction. What do you make of the age brouhaha? And do you think there is such as thing as a grandparent who is "too young"? Related Articles: Has Becoming a Parent Made You a Better Person? Is Your Child Ready to Answer the Phone? Can You Miss Your Kids Too Much? A Mother's View from the Pool-Bikinis on Babies? A Mother's View from the Pool: Why are you Wearing Crocs in the Water? Bad Economy + Tooth Fairy = Unhappy Kids Cell Phones - How Young is Too Young? Learn more about Michele Cheplic  Michele Cheplic was born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, but now lives in Wisconsin. Michele graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in Journalism. Relevantparenting tags User Comments Samual (11722) 16 Sep 2008 05:34 AMI know someone who was a grandma at 28! She had her daughter at 15 and her daughter became pregnant at 12 and had her baby when she was 13. Even she gets confused sometimes because she is such a young grandma and ends up calling her grandson her son. Starrlight (5255) 16 Sep 2008 06:38 AMI don't have a comment on the age issue, just that maybe she should have read the coupon better. It said on the bottom you had to be 50+ to use it. My brother and his wife became parents at 16 and then both of their daughters became parents at 16 also - so we know about young parents and grandparents in our family. swtuthmommy3 (130) 16 Sep 2008 12:35 PMAccording to a marketing site, the average age of first time grandparents in the US is 47. Toys R Us might want to change their age limit on their coupons for grandparents to more accurately reflect the current trend of age for first time grandparents.  DivasMomma (20907) 16 Sep 2008 12:46 PMMy mom is a granmother of 2...she will be 41 in october, but wasnt even 40 yet when my oldest was born!!!! I think this is ridiculous!!!  Tristi Pinkston (10839) 16 Sep 2008 08:44 PMYeah, it's too bad that the coupon wasn't read more carefully . . . but you say that someone is too young to be a grandmother. As the other commenters have stated, sometimes you become a parent much younger than the traditional norm. In the LDS community, it's extremely common for a woman to become a grandmother around the age of 40.  Michele Cheplic (37339) 17 Sep 2008 06:07 AMMan I feel old! At this point I will never have a problem qualifying to use Toys R Us coupons on Grandparents Day. Thanks for the comments ladies and thanks for the stats swtuthmommy--very interesting info! Community Tags Age, discount, grandparents, parents, toy store Discuss this article
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