Is it normal for grandparents to make little effort with grandchildren?

[BeMerryGuide]

Both sets of grandparents in our family don’t make much effort to see the kids. We live around 1.5 hours from both and make the effort to visit them. They come to us maybe 3 times a year for the night. They’ve been invited multiple times and are healthy. Is this just normal these days? I’d love the kids to have a good relationship with them growing up.

3 times a year would be 3 times more effort than either set of grandparents make for my kids so it's all relative really. Take it from someone whose been there and got the t shirt and heartbreak you can't make them give any more of a shit than they do.

My mum and step dad couldn't really be arsed it was up to us to keep a relationship going, but the children knew, they like my dc now they are adults and can do things for them !
My late Mil was great she would come see them on her day off and later collect them from school and take them to the park on the way home via the shop for sweets, she died before my dc left secondary
i don't think there is a normal tbh, are the grandparents still working have an active social life?

They’re retired with a very active social life. They travel a lot too so I think I had expected they would want to spend more time with them. In my circle it feels like there’s a lot of very involved grandparents so it’s nice to hear from others in the same boat.

It can be. We have one side that sees our dc maybe 6-7 times a year. The other hasn’t seen them in 6 years. 🤷🏻‍♀️ Meanwhile, I saw my grandparents 5-6 days a week.