do your brothers and sisters help out with children?

ragz_2

My sister in law and her husband don't have kids of their own and they are very close to ours, they have been our saviours on many occasion and are often offering to have our 3 for the night/day. They have been amazing and we are so lucky to have them, a lot of people are not lucky enough to have family so near and so willing to be involved.

donquine

Whilst I don't think anyone should feel obliged to look after other people's children, it's worth noting that grandparents chose to have children at one point and therefore must to an extent actually like them.

Brothers and sisters may be childless through choice.

bluenoseam

my elder sister extracts the urine with this! my both her & BiL work shift patters (BiL is a baker - so early starts!) and as a result require help with their 3 (14, 4 & 3), i have a younger sister too who is called upon to watch the kids at regular intervals - not a problem you may think, but unfortunately it is. Little sister works nightshift, and this Sunday after doing a 10-7 nightshift had the two youngest dumped on her from 12.30 while BiL & older nephew went to the football!!!

Once in a while is cool, but when it comes to it if you can't cover for your children properly then your parental skills need some improvement. She (OS) on the other hand, doesn't ask me as she knows i hate kids & will flat out refuse to watch them - i might love my God-daughter & 2 nephews, but 20 minutes watching them will rapidly change that opinion, although 14 year old doesn't dare push my buttons, he did it once and learned fairly quickly that Unkie Allan can turn Tyrant in less than a second and is very VERY loud.

Sublime_2

No, because they don't live anywhere near me.

Kimberley82

help out? no they should have to.

Spend time with their niece because they enjoy it, great.

chika

I'm expecting my first niece/nephew in September. I'm very excited and will go and coo and play the dutiful aunt but if they expect me to look after it then they are going to get a flat out NO! I love children, (I'm a teacher) but I don't want the responsibility of someone else child (family or not) when I'm not working. I agree with the comments that some people just don't get that others want a childfree existence.

sashadesade

If my brother (or anyone for that matter) had kids and I was *expected* to help out, I would have to tell him where to go. I don't have kids because I don't want them, I'm certainly not going to take responsibility for someone elses!

sashadesade

RAS wrote: »

Any

I suspect someone in your family has this crazy idea that if you spend time around children you will catch it.

They do not understand it actually puts you off.

Got to agree. Sad but true, there really are people who think thrusting a baby into your arms or exposing you to their noisy little hellions will make you magically decide you want one of your own.

zoesmummy_2006

i cant fault my family at all, my parents adore having my kids, they're both stopping with them tonight and my dad will take daughter to school in the morning. my brother whos younger than me babysits if i need one, not very often i get opportunity to go out though lol! and my sister loves taking them both out to the park etc etc, she text me this avo depsite being out working as a home carer and asked if she could pick daughter up from school. im very fortunate with my family in that they adore my 2 and will happily do anything for them. my ex inlaws see the kids maybe once a month from me, dont think they see them via their son very often, and that saddens me as they're both retired, bith have cars and only live 10 mins away. i always feel guilty when the suddenly out of the blue ask to have the kids for the day as generally i just plan around us, but if they ask i always feel i cant say no. last weekend was my mates 30th and we were actually going out, ex inlaws were having them in day and my parents were having them for the night while i went out. ex inlaws found out i was going out and decided they'd have them for the night. iniatially said (politely) it's ok have sorted babysitters already, but did they want them the night before so they could have thurs night/fri day with them. wasnt good enough they'd "just got back" from few days away n were busy. in end my parents said to just let them stay there as they know they dont see them enough. but thats their choice at end of the day x

DanielleNic87

I pick my nephew up from school everyday. Take him home, feed him, do his homework and wash his uniform. All before my sis gets home from work. She has had alot of problems with work i.e not being able to change her working hours, even though she is a single parent, but luckily has she has me to help her out.

Luckily she is starting a new job next week, so i only have to pick him up 3 times a week.

Danielle