babysitting

My brother and his wife babysat their grandchild this weekend so the parents could have a break.

How much do you avail yourselves as babysitters if your granchildren live in town?

My parents raised five children and when they started having grandchildren their rule of thumb was they were the last resort in the babysitting department. They'd babysit for special occasions or emergencies, but chose not to spend all thier time babysitting grandchildren. They had thirteen!

I know grandparents who are the childcare providers for their grandchildren and I respect that, but wow what a job.

I babysat Jason from the time he was born when the kids needed a break. When he was about 4 he started asking to stay the weekend and so I'd keep him a couple weekends a month. I've done that up to about two years ago. He's too big now to stay at grandma's house, or is he. He asked if he could come home with me Sunday night until Monday night, so my now 13 year old baby (makes him mad when I say that) still wants to stay over sometimes. We had quite a grand time playing board games....