Intergenerational Communication Around Young Children’s Upbringing: Tensions and Design Implications

Grandparents play a central role in co-parenting in many Asian households, particularly when both parents work full-time. While this intergenerational caregiving arrangement offers emotional and practical benefits, it also introduces communication challenges rooted in generational differences in parenting values and expectations. Therefore, we explore how grandparents and parents in Hong Kong navigate communication around young children’s upbringing, and how technology mediates these interactions. Based on semi-structured interviews with ten preliminary participants (five grandparents and five parents), our early findings reveal key areas of communication and conflict, especially around educational decisions and caregiving responsibilities. Participants also shared the use of digital tools, such as messaging apps, in facilitating co-parenting communication. This work highlights the need for more inclusive, elderly-friendly technological interventions and offers early design considerations for tools that support clearer, more empathetic intergenerational dialogue in child caregiving contexts. These insights contribute to ongoing efforts to design culturally sensitive technologies for multigenerational families. © 2025 Copyright held by the owner/author(s).