What to Know
I will be the first to admit that I feel guilty when I ask my in-laws to babysit my children. Call it a lifetime of people-pleaser trauma that I have yet to totally deal with in therapy, but it is what it is. So my worst nightmare (OK, one of my many worst nightmares as a neurotic parent) is for my in-laws to verbally express their annoyance at being asked to babysit one or both of my kids while my husband and I are working or trying to have a date night.
One super honest, like to a fault, grandma on TikTok, whose name is Stevie-Rae, shared in a video that she actually charges her adult kids to babysit her grandchildren. She says in her video that she would even rather be working full-time outside of the home than being paid to essentially raise children again. And that’s gotta sting for her adult kids.
She has overnight fees to babysit her grandchildren too.
Look, if my in-laws asked for a daily or hourly pay to babysit my kids, I would probably pay them, because I already feel a pang of guilt every time I ask them to take pity on a couple of busy working millennial parents like me and my husband. Luckily, they have never asked, and they rarely say no. OK, I feel pretty lucky right about now. But for Stevie-Rae, it’s not that simple.
She says in her video that she charges her kids £10 (approx $13 USD) per hour to watch her grandchildren. She says that she has “done [her] time” in raising four kids. But now, because of her role as grandma and babysitter, she has to wake up early and take care of kids again. Hey, at least she’s getting paid this time around.
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“I’m 40 years old, and, you know, I didn’t sign up to be a grandmother at the age of 40,” Stevie-Rae says. “So, yeah, I do charge them, and so I should. At the end of the day, they get paid off the government [through] child benefits, for the kids to be in daycare, so if they’re not in daycare, they’re in my care, I should get paid.”
To top it all off, she ends her video by sharing that she charges her kids £100, or about $132, “for overnights.” Other users on TikTok were quick to reprimand her in the comment section of the video and tell her that it is a “privilege” to be a grandparent.
“They are literally your grandchildren?? This generation of grandparents are the most selfish,” a parent commented. “I’m so lucky my mum is NOT like that!”
A fellow grandmother wrote, “I have my granddaughter two days a week. Her parents have to work. I take her out, feed her, buy her toys and clothes, and love every minute. I wouldn’t take a penny from her parents.”
Hey, I get it, all grandparents are different, and they all have different thoughts and opinions when it comes to seeing their grandchildren. But if you go by the comment section under Stevie-Rae’s video, it kind of sounds like most grandparents are wondering what the heck she is thinking.
“I’m 43 with three grandkids,” a user commented, likely mentioning their age to remind Stevie-Rae that they are close to her age. “Having them is a privilege! Would never charge to have them.”
Another parent added, “My dad comes over at 5:30 a.m. some weeks to do the school run when I start work early. My mum stays over every other week to do the school run for me. Never once have either of them asked me for a penny and they wouldn’t.”
