Do/Did your parent babysit ?

[disneychrista]

Inspired by the How Often Do You Get A Break thread

Did you parents babysit/watch your children for you to have a night our or a weekend away?



My mom watched my oldest when I went back to work for awhile because her dad was MIA most of the time. But after a few months she said it was too much for her. My parents never really had my girls for sleepovers and I didn't feel I could ask them for me to have night out.

 

[Disneylover99]

No. My parents and my mother in-law never babysat my kids.

 

[Kittyblue]

My mom watched my oldest between ages 2-4 for date nights, but mostly she wasn't interested.

 

[kymom99]

My parents were amazing. They helped us so much. My son got off the bus at their house every afternoon. If they had something to do my mom would arrange for the neighbor to meet him.

That being said, they helped mostly so we could work. we never really asked them to watch him so we could go out. However, As I said in the other thread, mom would help my husband so I could get away. My husband worked really early in the morning. I had to get the kids out the door (his and ours for a time) every morning on my own and get myself to work. So I felt like I earned a few days away. Usually he would take a day or two vacation and mom just filled in the gaps.

 

[cvjw]

My mom lives in a different state, but she constantly took my boys for weeks at a time so I could have a break. She did this until they got too grown up and cool for a week with grandma. My boys still love her and my dad fiercely.

My mother in law rarely saw her grandkids and she is in the same city we are.

 

[SaintsManiac]

My mother was too sick and she died when my daughter was 4.

My in-laws and my godmother happily stay with her if we ever feel like doing anything, which is rare lol. Usually we want to hang out with them, too! We don’t have any family locally.

 

[ReneeA]

No. My family lived too far away. My husband's family was not capable. My FIL did pick up my kids in middle school and drop them off at home 1-2 days a week so I could work.

 

[PrincessShmoo]

Did you parents babysit/watch your children for you to have a night our or a weekend away?

Sort of......not really. My mom lived 600 miles away. She was here when the kids were born. So she watched the older ones when I was in the hospital having the younger ones. And she stayed a week or so afterward.

In-laws only had the kids a couple of times when the kids were young, usually when we had to go out of town for the weekend.

All that said, I have no doubt that either my mom or my in-laws would have watched them more, if we had asked. But we didn't need to ask very often.

 

[Michelle Sinnott]

My mom watched my oldest all the time but I was a single mom didn’t have much of a choice. My twins she has only watched two times in their whole 9 years. Glad they are older and we can do more things now as a family.

 

[disykat]

My parents lived far away, but every few years when they'd come to visit DH and I would do a weekend getaway and they'd stay with the kids. Once I had a medical emergency that made me unable to take care of the kids for a few days and they dropped everything and were there within a day. They also shooed us out the door for a night out whenever we'd visit them. They were always happy to have time with their grandkids. We all made a point for them to be able to do that because it was important for them to have time alone with them to develop a relationship.

I know for a fact though that they would never have agreed to be a part of the regular parenting rotation. They wanted to be grandparents not raise more kids. My grown kids don't live locally, but do live closer than we lived to grandparents. Since they are only a few hours away I'm hoping to be able to host overnights several times a year when I have grandkids and to be able to help in semi emergencies as well as emergencies. I have no intention of being part of the regular weekly schedule though.

 

[TLSnell1981]

Our parents rarely watched any of their grandchildren. They were too wrapped up in themselves. On the other hand my grandmothers helped as much as they could...loved spending time with them.

 

[LongLiveRafiki]

No, not really. My parents are divorced. My mom sometimes watched the kids for a special occasion like our anniversary, New Years, stuff like that. Maybe 3-5 times a year when we lived in the same state. We were always grateful, but it was difficult to really plan anything as she would refuse to fully commit to watching them until a couple hours beforehand, "just in case something pops up."

My dad has always lived in a different state. He visited and watched DD for a couple of the days when I was in the hospital having DS, but then decided to go back home so someone else took over until I could leave the hospital. That's the extent of him babysitting.

MIL has also lived in a different state the majority of the time we've had kids. She has had the kids overnight once and babysat maybe twice for a couple of hours other than that.

DH doesn't know his dad, so he's obviously never been around.

We currently live in a different state than all relatives and that's not likely to ever change, so I doubt family will really be watching the kids much, if ever, from here on out.

 

[leebee]

We never lived in the same state as either my mom or my MIL, so for DD, it was a moot point. However, my mother made it perfectly clear to my sister, who lived in the same town, that she'd already raised us and it was up to my sister to raise her own kids, she was not interested in babysitting. OK... Contrast that to my MIL, who was always happy to have her grandkids around and actually took custody of 2 grandsons for three years when their family was in disarray, a real mess at the time.

 

[aprilgail]

My mom watched my daughter daily from the time she was an infant while I worked. I was going to put her in day care but my mom said she would love to do it so that is what we did. She would watch her when I would go out with friends too but I only left her for one weekend and that was for a wedding. Other than that i never went away without her. I plan to do the same for my daughter when she has kids.

 

[AuntieMe3]

My parents are practically our neighbors and my daughter was(still is...lol) super close to them so she spent a lot of time with them when she was younger. If I was going for a girls weekend, DD would rather stay with my parents than just staying home with her dad....

MIL lives in another state but we would never even think to ask her to keep our daughter while we went out while visiting...hubby was NOT ok with that, thankfully she never once asked if she could either....

 

[dyna]

My parents let me know up front we raised you now it it your turn to raise yours. I never asked them to watch them but a handful of times and they never turned me down when I asked.

DH's parents, family was out of the question I wouldn't ask an if they had offered to take them to the moon I'd have said NO way!

 

[superme80]

My in laws have watched my kids for a few hours at a time. They are much older than my parents, so we never wanted to overwhelm them. My parents have watched the kids for us, including overnights. My parents live 2 hours away, so not as often as they would like to.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

As I said in the other thread, my mother lived with us - in an in-law apt. Building it before we had kids, she knew going into it we were likely to start a family and she was willing to help and looked forward to it. She never seemed to tire of having the kids come in to see her, making them lunches or watching them, or one of them, if we had to or wanted to go out. We never bothered her overnight except a handful of times when someone had to go to the ER or something like that, but it was nice having her right there if that happened. She passed away recently, but she told me not too long ago that the period when my kids were little was one of the best times of her life, which I was glad to hear, and she loved them with all her heart.

I plan to pay it forward when my kids have kids. Looking forward to being a grandparent some day.

 

[pinkxray]

My kids are 15,5,3
My parents were around for the 15 year old when she was young. My mom watched her almost everyday until she started preschool at3. DD spent the night and occasional weekends at their house.
Unfortunately my dad passed away unexpected when she was 4 and my moms health took a nose dive to where she stopped being able to watch her.
The younger kids never got to met my dad or hang out with grandma all summer. DD still talks about how grandma took her to McDonald’s every day bc they were trying to collect all the happy meal toys for a certain movie.

Mother in law never really baby sat. His sister had a kid young and MIL alway watched her so by the time we had kids she was done.

 

[dreamin_disney]

My Mom was an awesome grandma. Grandkids always wanted to spend the night on the weekends and she never said no. She would babysit or pick them up from school if she could.

My dd was an infant when my mom died so she missed out on enjoying time with her.

My mother n law would watch my daughter once in awhile if we went to the movies and dd spent the night rarely. MIL went out to the clubs a lot and several different boyfriends. When she had boyfriends we avoided letting dd stay with her. As dd got older 6-7 she would ask MIL if she could spend the night but would get told no because she had plans with friends or going to the club. From age 9-12 MIL would tell my dd that she would pick her up on holiday break or off track but would never call or come. MIL always shows up for dd bday and plays the wonderful grandma.

My dd is now in college and feels like no bond with her grandma. My dd is so hurt by my MIL never making an effort to bond with her. I feel so bad for my dd but tell her it sucks but she has to realize that her grandma has no bond or real relationship with any of her 7 grandkids. It’s to the point that only 2 grandkids show up to MIL’s bday or celebration for her. My dd shows up everytime and one other grandkid shows up once in awhile but even then MIL doesn’t even really chat with them. She’s to busy drinking and socializing. Even at other family get togethers MIL doesn’t really talk to grandkids

It bothers me so much and my husband finally started noticing a few years ago because my dd would talk about it and cry and still gets teary eyed.

I tell my dd that I plan on being a grandma that goes to award ceremonies at school, takes them for after school treats, pick them up from school(depending on my work schedule), take the kids on vacation, start a college fund for them. Don’t even get me started on Birthdays and Christmas lol! Hubby and I plan on being involved and will love the child she’s blessed with