Table 8 Quotes about factors of grandparents’ physical activity and sedentary behavior on the (physical) environmental level

Weather and seasonal circumstances

Quote 37 (Grandparent 13, ♀, 57 years): “In the winter, you’re more sedentary, even when the grandchildren come over, you just play games or something. If the weather is nice in summer, you spend more time outside, so you’re more active.”

Affordances of the caregiving environment

Quote 38 (Grandparent 1, ♂, 59 years): “We have the advantage of having a playground two minutes away, so we can walk there. We play there for an hour, sometimes even three hours, then we come back. It’s very close. So, in that respect, we’ve become more active than before we had grandchildren.”

Quote 39 (Grandparent 25, ♀, 59 years): “Currently, the grandchildren live on the first floor in a very small apartment without an elevator. The youngest grandchild weights already 10 kilos and at the moment I find it physically very hard to carry her up the stairs. Even with an extra bag or something else you have to carry. I find that physically very heavy.”

Quote 40 (Grandparent 14, ♂, 66 years): “The middle grandchild lives with her parents in an apartment and they can hardly go outside. But she likes to go outside and sometimes it’s difficult to keep her inside. When she’s with us, we go see the horses, we go everywhere. Sometimes you don’t know where she’s heading. Then you have to make a physical effort to keep up.”

Quote 41 (Grandparent 9, ♂, 62 years): “There’s a difference between having the grandchildren in your home or having them in their home. When they’re with us, they’re constantly busy. They absolutely want to do one thing after another, they have a big toy box; one thing comes out, another thing comes out. Then we barely sit because you’re constantly doing everything together. But when we care of the grandchildren at their place, they’re a bit calmer. They have their own toys, they know what they’re doing, they sit down on the floor and do this and that. Then I dare to sit in the sofa and watch them from a distance.”

Quote 42 (Grandparent 12, ♀, 57 years): “I’m actually a plus grandmother, who jumps in for the really urgent care problems. During the holidays, of course, more than in a school year. But my house is not really set up for the grandchildren to act like they do at home. And for me that sometimes means that we’re more sedentary than when I’d have a fixed schedule to take care of my grandchildren, I think that’s also a negative impact on my physical activity level when providing care.”

Indoor vs. outdoor possibilities

Quote 43 (Grandparent 37, ♂, 57 years): “So when we go outside, we’re active together, the grandchildren and I. On the trampoline, a bit of hopping, on the swing, the slide… The sedentary things are more inside.”