A mum has started a huge debate online after she revealed that her parents look after her three children for up to 10 hours a day.
Australian couple Lauren* and Matt* rely on her parents to drop off their two older daughters at school in the morning, as well as looking after their two-year-old until they return from work.
The parents admit that it saves them them “huge amounts of money” and stress, as Lauren’s parents have the kids three days a week – and Matt’s have them for one.
She told Mamamia:
“They do so much, and Mum does all my laundry and cleans up all my kitchen dishes from the breakfast in the morning.
“She doesn’t leave till five o’clock when I get home.
“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.”
And while Lauren says she feels guilty ” a lot” about the amount of time and work her parents put into looking after her three children, she says she buys them gifts as a thank you.
She continued:
“Each week when I put the petrol in the car then I will get an extra treat, like a box of chocolates, and leave it in the car for them, for when they get back and they’re heading home.”
Some social media users argued that the grandparents should be being paid for the assistance, while others emphasised that “it takes a village to raise a child.”
One person said:
“I paid my parents to have my kids for the 4 hours a week they had them. I’d rather pay them than child care.
“I think long hour daily care should be done by child care, cos I think grandparents need a break.”
Someone else added:
“If they’re doing it all day, then yes, pay them.”
However, another parent insisted:
“So lucky indeed. It takes a village to raise a child. This family is very blessed as I’m sure the relationship between child and grandparent would be wonderful!
“Payment in other ways like groceries, filling up the car etc are great ways to show appreciation.”
Another wrote:
“I’d do it out of love, to help my kids be able to go to work. No way would I expect money in return.”
Lauren’s mum, Fiona, said that she doesn’t think she could look after her three grandkids “all day, every day, for the rest of my days” – but she doesn’t have an issue with it for now.
She said:
“It will be a very short amount of time and they’ll all be at school and doing their own thing and they won’t want to hang out with the old grandparents anymore. Then we’ll move on.”
She added that she and her husband, who both retired early, don’t want money for helping out.
She explained:
“I certainly don’t expect my children to pay me to look after their children,” she said.
“It fills in the days for us and hopefully our children appreciate what we do for them, but no, we don’t expect to get paid. We enjoy it.”
