Grandparents would be lying if they didn’t admit that even though they LOVE their grandkids to pieces, the OTHER best part of their visit with you is that they get to go home and sleep like your children all tucked into their beds—the sleep of knowing THEY are yours and you have full responsibility for them.
Remember the sleepless nights: the sore throats and fevers? Let’s not forget the diapers, the wet beds, the potty training days when our kids came along—the ones who are now the parents? Been there. Done that already when you were born! It’s one thing to step in and help out once in a while but where is it written that we’re automatically on call? Ya gotta live your life as as we lived ours: on your own two feet.
I always said I wasn’t going to be a built-in babysitter but I got sucked in when I looked at those sweet innocent faces, with their luminous eyes and satiny skin you ought to be able to buy in the nearest drugstore. Now it’s a slippery slope between getting to do what I’ve been gearing up for in my retirement and giving in yet again. Stop trying to influence me by using my grandkids like the proverbial carrot.
Why should I feel guilty every time you’re in a fix? You say you don’t trust anyone else with them? Ah-huh. I’m retired now. I’m FREE to do as I please. FINALLY. I have a life. Yay. Do you HEAR me?
Knock, knock?
I can’t hear you. Didn’t you say that grandma is going a bit deaf?
How the Cookie Crumbles 
August 20, 2011 at 6:10 pm
I LOVE my grandkids and since the youngest is 12 and the oldest is 28, I feel I can safely say that they still know I love them dearly even though I refused to be used as a babysitter unless it was absolutely necessary…. they also still love me too and their parents…. my children…. still do too. Yes they were very cute and sweet and lovable – still are – but after raising my own kids from the time I was 18, I KNEW that I not only deserved but earned a life of my own.
So you stick to your guns, Babcia.
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August 22, 2011 at 4:20 pm
Who KNEW? You’re a brick!
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