Do/Did your parent babysit ?

[pxidst119]

I always think everyone’s parents are spending so much time with their grandchildren so this thread has been interesting to me. Both sets of my grandparents spent a lot of time with us. My parents were more the we raised you now raise yours type. I was a SAHM so I didn’t need much in the way of babysitting but always wished for a break or night out. Both of my sisters work. I’ve encouraged my mom to enjoy the youngest grandchildren and help out her overworked daughters to have a break here and there and to enjoy the kids while they are small. She has 10 grandchildren in all with 6 of them over 16 and the last 4 are 10-newborn. I think she is finally enjoying them all after watching one graduate from college and 2 from highschool this year. They really do grow up so fast.

 

[kimblebee]

Yes they did all the time and still do for my sisters kids. We all live within 15 minutes of each other so it’s very convenient. They’re both in their mid 70s but they’re still active so my dad gets down on the floor to play with my four year old nephew. He knows not to jump on papa though when he’s down lol

Last I heard, my daughter doesn’t want kids, but if she changes her mind, I’ll be more than happy to babysit.

 

[easyas123]

My in laws may have watched our boys once, I'm trying to remember. They were never overly involved and my husband wasn't terribly close to them. My folks spend a lot of time with our kids - I was a SAHM until they were in school, so not for babysitting on a daily basis. But they would watch the boys if we wanted to get away for a weekend and spent a lot of time with them weekly (we were at the family farm for various reasons a lot anyway). My folks also took our kids on some amazing trips over the years, and now that they kids are in their 20's, along with their cousins, they all still enjoy a good relationship.

 

[J'aime Paris]

I was a SAHM, so I didn't need a babysitter often.
But DD was the only grandchild for many years....the grandparents would call often to have her visit.
DD and her grandparents have awesome bonds! She's 21 now and still likes to see them on a regular basis.
I'm happy we are all so close.

 

[Meriweather]

Nope....my parents and in-laws lived in a different state than we did.

Now, I am the grandparent and I watch my grand kids very often. Watching the little one this morning while DIL goes to the grocery store.
Watching them Monday and Tuesday for the next few weeks so DIL can go to work to do some things that has to be done there......and it goes on and on like that.

 

[hereyago]

When I was pregnant with dd, we moved in with my parents. My dad loved being a grandparent. I only went out twice while he was alive and he watched her: one was a Christmas party for work and I was going to drink and stay at the hotel and another time it was my birthday and I spent the night with a friend. But other then that, if my dd wasn’t spending the weekend with her dad I didn’t go out.

 

[AnnaS]

I worked part time for 29 years. My parents would watch the kids a few hours here and there and pick up at pre-school (two blocks away) or the bus stop (less than two blocks away) here and there. My parents lived two blocks away from me.

When the kids were a little older, I had babysitters (neighbor's daughter/friend's daughter) for the occasional party, very rare night out.

My mother in law never babysat my kids.

We now have babysat for our grandchildren for the last 6 years - I retired early last year when the fourth one (different son) was born.

 

[tazdev3225]

My MIL watched my kids occasionally when they were young which was odd. She refused to watch her other grandchildren when they were young. To be fair she had my husband in her 40's and his siblings were older. My SIL and my mother were only 5 days apart in age. My FIL died just as my husband turned 7 so my MIL had to work. With my kids though it was different. She had a bag of toys and coloring books, kept cookies in the house for them and she had her niece there to help. The niece made my kids grilled cheese with mustard, disgusting but they still love it. My kids were the only ones who could understand their cousin when she talked so they interpreted for me. She was mentally challenged with a speech impediment so i had a hard time understanding her. My kids also learned tolerance for others who are different.

My parents took my kids whenever I asked them. My husband and I used to go to a softball tournament every summer with his work. Statewide prisons tournament for the weekend and I was the co-manager on the team since I could keep score so I didn't have time to watch the kids. My mom loved watching her grandkids. Her favorite story was when my daughter told her she wasn't allowed to eat at her house - for TWO days. My daughter is a very picky eater and my mom doesn't deal with that very well. She learned cover everything in a bottle of ketchup and my daughter will eat.

I watched my daughters 3 kids until about a year ago when she worked. I had them from birth until my oldest granddaughter turned 15 and could handle her siblings. I am still a phone call and 5 minutes away. I now help out with my youngest daughter's boys. I wouldn't have it any other way. My grandkids and I are very close and I love it.

I just found out I am going to be a great grandmother later this year and hope to help out with that little one also.

 

[Lehuaann]

I chose to become a sahm, but, yes, my late mother (hour away) loved having our children over and would call and ask us to bring them. My mother and I were very close.

My MIL (5 minutes away) never asked them over, and I never asked her to watch them.

 

[OneOftheB's]

My parents never baby sat, due to health issues (mom had COPD and died when my kids were 18 months to 5 years old, my dad is wheelchair bound and has lived in an assisted living facility for 7 years). My in laws once watched my kids somewhat regularly but that has dropped off to rarely seeing the kids. It's actually to the point where my 13 YO son has stated that he has no interest in spending time with the grandparents because they've shown no interest in him. My 10 YO daughter spends slightly more time with them, but has gotten frustrated with the lack of engagement she feels from them as well. My in laws live about 10 minutes away, and MIL thinks nothing of driving 5 hours to see her other grand kids and step grand kids. This weekend she is driving to pick up the youngest grandson and bring him to her house for a long weekend and might collect my two to spend a couple of hours with all three at the pool. I've not mentioned it because she is the worst about not showing up after I've told the kids about the plans she set up earlier in the week. Bitter much? Me? No! (sarcasm if you can't read it) I'm kind of over it as well, but it's sad that my kids, at 10 and 13 have written them off. DH has spoken to his parents a few times to no avail. This is apparently how his parents were when he was growing up too- dad working all the time, mom very involved with her hobbies.

 

[Kitty 34]

My parents never watched any of their 16 grandkids and lived next door to many of them. It just wasn't their thing. They were in their 50s and traveled quite a bit. But we all knew that. Now my sister and I did a lot of babysitting back and forth for each other.

My MIL watched our two younger ones now and then on a Saturday morning when DH and I did shopping.

 

[HsvTeacher]

My mom passed away suddenly when our daughter was 10 weeks old, but she was over here pretty much every day until then. My dad isn’t physically able to watch her by himself.

My in-laws both live in different states so they can’t help either.

 

[mom2rtk]

No, pretty much no help at all.

 

[lorimay]

My parents and in-laws watched our kids, we never had to hire a babysitter.
Only a handful of times did they keep them for weekends.
I keep my grandkids a lot so their parents can have weekend breaks,

I am now "Grandma-nanny. I have my 2 yr old grandson M-F 8-5 and I love it, we are attached at the hip.
I pick up my two older grandkids from school 3 days a week ( remember when there was school? lol)

 

[disindec]

I don’t trust my mother to watch my garden grow so there’s no way she’s having time alone with my kids. My father passed away when I was 32 weeks pregnant with my oldest or he would of been the most fun babysitter.
My MIL watched my oldest 2 days a week while I worked for a 1.5 years until my youngest was born then I became a stay at home mom. If it continued any longer we would of been getting a divorce. No one has been alone with my kids without myself if my husband since my youngest was born in 2018 and that is very unlikely to ever change.

 

[Searc]

Our closest family lived two hours away, so no, they didn't watch our kids on a regular basis, which is why we only had a handful of date nights a year. Other than our long weekend away, if we went somewhere, so did our kids.

 

[Searc]

Double post

 

[Searc]

I don’t trust my mother to watch my garden grow so there’s no way she’s having time alone with my kids. My father passed away when I was 32 weeks pregnant with my oldest or he would of been the most fun babysitter.
My MIL watched my oldest 2 days a week while I worked for a 1.5 years until my youngest was born then I became a stay at home mom. If it continued any longer we would of been getting a divorce. No one has been alone with my kids without myself if my husband since my youngest was born in 2018 and that is very unlikely to ever change.

Your kids don't go to school? Play with friends? Sunday School? VBS? Friends birthday parties?

 

[CookieandOatmeal]

We are very lucky in that both of our parents help us with our son who was just born last November. When I went back to work from maternity leave, my parents and his mom split the week so LO never had to go to daycare. My mom took 3 days and his mom did two. Even on the weekends, they encouraged us to drop him off a few hours on a random weekend so we could go out to dinner, to an event, or to the movies by ourselves. When the pandemic hit and we started working from home, my parents started off by coming over to help watch him while we worked but then a stay at home order was issued and we didn't want to risk my parents health so we asked them to stay home. Our parents miss our son so much and he is a pro at FaceTime now because they did it so much the last few months.

 

[MamaLema]

DH’s parents live on another continent.

My mom is not the Grandma type so she never babysat, but always watched the kids in any emergency