Be it food, money, clothes or other essentials like the new iPhone, such goods and victuals are generously bestowed upon ever-consuming grandchildren.

It certainly proves to be true that grandparents are only too willing to spoil the younger generation in a way they didn’t with their own children. And that’s fine. Grandparents have a lot of love to give and grandchildren benefit hugely from it. Many families’ work takes them away from close family ties every day.

Children’s opportunities to connect with the older generation can be limited to telephone, email or even letters by carrier pigeon.

In such cases when the family is geographically far apart, both sides miss out on that magical relationship in which each has so much to offer the other. Especially as, by this stage in life, juveniles and the elderly have a lot in common (sorry – just joking).

Fortunately, we moved back to the North West when my sons were five and one year-old, although we’d made an effort to engender the relationship by such initiatives as “take your grandparents to school day”.

Admittedly, it was a long walk from Haydock to Banbury, but the old folks managed it and I’m sure the fresh air, exercise and service station food did them good.

Now living only five miles apart, we wonder how we survived those first few years without them.

The same is true for many families, as a national report this week reveals that one in four parents turn to their own parents for help with children.

On average, they contribute 16 hours a week in childcare duties. In fact, it has been calculated that Britain’s grandparents save their families £50bn a year by taking on such duties.

More grandparents have begun to help out their working daughters, either by being a hands-on carer themselves or by paying nursery fees.

Research by Prof Ann Buchanan, at Oxford University, revealed that nearly a third of grandmothers provide regular childcare for their daughters’ children, and four out of 10 help occasionally.

Unfairly, grandparents who do offer such help don’t qualify for tax credits or any other financial assistance.

Prof Buchanan’s researchers found that children do better all round if grandparents play a part in their upbringing, which is a no-brainer, really.

The more love there is to share around, the more secure a child will be. Neither does it stop when the children get older. This week alone, my parents have picked up my eldest son from a university conference, given moral support at an “A-level” music performance and cooked me a fantastic Mother’s Day lunch.

I really couldn’t do without them – and my husband, already busy running a free teenage taxi service, agrees wholeheartedly.