Should grandparents be paid for babysitting? Working mum sparks debate online after admitting her parents look after her kids
A mother has caused an intriguing debate online after she admitted that she lets the grandparents take care of her children three days a week — for free.
Lauren, from Queensland, Australia, confessed that she assigns the job of taking care of the children all day to her parents for three days a week. Her parents arrive at 6:45 am and have the task of taking her eldest children, Gracy and Lucy, to school in the morning and look after her youngest, two-year-old Violet all day until she gets home from work at 5 pm.
Also, Lauren's mother, Fiona, does the house's laundry and cleans the kitchen along with the dishes of the breakfast that morning. She says that her parents look after her children for three days a week and then her husband's parents look after them for a day — saves the family huge amount of money and takes a lot of stress.
On that, "They do so much" Lauren told Mamamia.
“I don’t have to worry about trying to get them dressed and ready to go to before-school care, or rush to finish work early to be back to pick them up. Or if there’s something at school, I know Mum can be there. All of my friends tell me all of the time how lucky I am to have mum and dad to help out. I know how hard it is for people that don't have that support around trying to juggle work and kids. I appreciate that I have it easier than a lot of people in that regard.”
This arrangement tends to save the family a lot of money for daycare and other expenses while grandparents do not think they should be paid instead they enjoy the errands and have a fun time with the grandchildren. All she asks is that her grandchildren should appreciate the effort and be grateful for it.
The Mamamia article on Facebook was flooded with comments.
One comment read, "How amazing that the children get to spend their days with their grandparents. My children had this opportunity and have amazing memories"