Re: Grandparents

My ex-inlaws, very rarely both because they lives far away but also because there is a language barrier that would freak the kids out because they couldn't fully communicate their needs. And my MIL is also a little wacky (loveable but wacky!) so we kept that to a minimum when he would visit.

My mom used to take them for a weekend overnight about once a month. She lived for it. She'd also take a sick day if we had a childcare issue or watch them for a few hours if I needed. She lived 20 minutes away. I miss having that because I find it really hard not having family to rely on.

Grandparents

We are very lucky. My mom and MIL switched off watching DS when he was a baby while we were both at work. My mom gets him to and from school (does the same for my nephew, thankfully they’re both in the same school district). MIL will baby-sit when we ask as well. We try not to abuse it for date nights though. They have never watched DS overnight, but we’ve never gone away without him so there hasn’t been a need.

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2-3 times a month. I find hiring a sitter is easier

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Grandparents

My DS has no grandparents. My mother passed away. DH's parents have not seen their son in over 30 years. So, my answer would be never.

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Grandparents

My parents and inlaws help us A LOT.

My father in law comes over in the morning to get the kids to school when DH is working so I can go to work. They pick them up from aftercare too on days that we're both working so they don't have to stay there too late (they live in our town).

My parents do a lot of weekend babysitting for us and overnights.

Re: Grandparents

We are very lucky my Dad watches my children 2 times a week and my FIL watches them once a week- we have a babysitter for the other 2 days. We both work FT - and are extremely thankful for the help we get. Our Dad's both offered to help, my Dad even quit his job to watch my children- both my Mom and MIL are passed - my kids are 6 and 4 - my Dad has always watched my children alone since they were 6 months old and my FIL used to watch with my Mil before she passed away 18 months ago.

We very rarely ask them to ever watch for date nights or weekends since we feel they do so much for us during the week, our Dad's are older in their 70's.

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I am a grandmother now. I watch my daughter's 2 kids during the week when they are working, they are 3 and 1. She is a teacher, so I don't watch them in the summer. We watch them occasionally for them to go out. She doesn't like to ask since I watch them all week. Occasionally, they'll have a sleepover (my granddaughter asks, and we love it.) their other grandparents babysit very rarely, and they're local. My other grandson lives 6 hours away, so unfortunately we don't watch him often. However, when he has a school break (he's in kindergarten) , he will sometimes come and spend a week with us,
When my kids were young, I had a lot of help from my parents. My in laws, however, watched my kids a total of twice in their life!

Re: Grandparents

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Message edited 2/5/2018 1:43:30 PM.

Grandparents

My in laws have never watched DS - they only see him twice a year and when they’re around DS isn’t comfortable with them.

My parents watch DS twice a week while I go to work. Since they are the only ones who watch him DH and I don’t go out on the weekends that much (maybe 2 times every 5-6 months) cause I feel bad asking them.

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FIL lives an hour away. He and his wife have watched our older 2 a handful of times when we were there or on vacation so we could go out for dinner. We never ask. They have just offered occasionally. They have taken DS1 for a week in the summer for the past several years and this summer they’ll take each of the boys on separate weeks.

My parents live 2.5 hours away. They’ve watched all 3 kids a few times when they were visiting so we could either go out to dinner or run a few errands. They helped out a lot with the boys when DD was born and had to be in the hospital for a week with unexpected medical issues. They’ll also watch the kids if we visit and want to go out. They’ve taken DS1 for a week once or twice each summer and they’ll take both boys this summer for separate weeks. They’d babysit more if we lived closer. My brother and SIL live near them. They go away pretty often and rely on both sets of grandparents to babysit their kids.

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Never

My parents physically can’t

His mom works and doesn’t drive

Re: Grandparents

My in-laws watch my DS a lot. They are our back up when he is sick and can't go to daycare. They watch him if we have something like a wedding, need to go car shopping. They will also just come by and hang out with him. Since they help so much we almost never ask them to watch him for date nights, except if it is a birthday or anniversary situation. I'm really lucky to have my in-laws. They never feel obligated and genuinely like watching my DS. They are actually in Florida right now, since December, for the winter. And now I realize how much they really help out and I feel bad for my DS because he misses them. My mom is sick and lives an hour away so she's out of the picture.

Re: Grandparents

Often. We try to have date night once a month so my parents or my ILs will take DD over night. She stayed with ILs overnight as early as 3/4 months old. Also, whenever they're available and take a day from work, they keep DD home from daycare to spend the day with her. Some weeks she spends more time with family than at daycare which is great except for the still having to pay for it thing.

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My parents live out of state so never (other than visits when we stay together as a family). My inlaws live in the next town over. My MIL puts my son on the bus and gets him off the bus once a week d/t our work schedules. Usually they are more than happy to watch them on their own time frame (for an hour or so) if we bring them to their house during that time period. Otherwise my FIL has parkinsons and can't really drive and my MIL doesn't like to be out of the house past 6pm so we don't use them to babysit in the evenings (and actually still have never had a babsitter as my 2.5 yr old has stranger danger (my 5.5 yr old would be fine) . Sometimes we will drop them off for an hour on the weekend and grab panera in town. They have never done an overnight or anything, I think it would be too much for them.

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Both my mother and MIL are pretty much our go to babysitters, our children are 7 & 4. My sister and my brother are follow ups if neither of them can (which is very rare).

I just do not trust anyone else.

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Grandparents

my parents live 2 hours away, AND they travel about 5-6 months a year, too ( spend winter in florida, etc) SOO even if we lived close to them, they're still gone a lot of the year. they're pretty "hands off" and very much like " we raised you guys, this is our time now" kind of thing.
AND my in laws live 4 hours away out of state- so we only see them every few months anyway. and when we do see them, we feel bad going out since we don't spend a ton of time with them as it is. Plus, my ILs can't handle my boys, and don't even offer to watch them even when they're visiting LOL ( We were with them for the weekend on my husband's birthday, and they didn't even offer for us to go out to dinner without the kids...)
SOOO basically we get pretty much no help/ support from either set of grandparents. and we don't have anybody local to us that we trust to babysit either (like i said, my boys are a handful- PLUS its paying another $50 or $75 on top of the dinner or wherever we end up going) So, we very very rarely get out just the 2 of us. its completely exhausting, but not much we can do...
but, yes, it makes me so jealous when i hear about grandparents always watching the kids on the weekends. or see them out with their grandkids during the day (watching the grandkids while the parents work), or doing the drop-off/ pick up from the part time preschool i have my younger son in).

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Grandparents

My MIL watched DS from when he was 3 months until he was 2 yrs old and she would come over during the week and stay. Now she doesnt watch him because I would rather have my SIL watch him on the occasion that we go out on a date night which is 4-6x a year mainly because there is a language barrier and its just easier.

Grandparents

Each set probably babysits once a month. Overnights are very rare, maybe once a year for a wedding or other late night event.

Grandparents

barely ever... maybe 2x a year

Re: Grandparents