Mother sparks debate after admitting her parents look after her children three days a week without being paid
'I appreciate that I have it easier than a lot of people'
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Your support makes all the difference.A mother has sparked debate online after admitting her parents look after her children three days a week without being paid.
Lauren, from Queensland, Australia, revealed that she relies on her parents to take her eldest children, Grace and Lucy, to school in the morning and look after her youngest, two-year-old Violet, until she gets home from work at 5pm.
On top of that, Lauren's mother, Fiona, also does the family's laundry and cleans up all the kitchen dishes from breakfast every morning.
“They do so much,” she told Mamamia.
“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.”
The arrangement undoubtedly saves the family a lot of money in childcare but despite giving up so much of her time Lauren’s mother, doesn’t think she should be paid for taking care of her grandchildren.
Instead, she says that looking after her grandchildren is something that she enjoys and helps to fill in the days.
All she asks in return is that her children appreciate what she does for them.
After sharing the article on its Facebook page, Mamamia’s post was flooded with comments on the topic and, while some insisted that grandparents shouldn’t be paid, others disagreed.
“I help because I love all my grandchildren, and I love my children and their wives. I don’t call it work as such, to be able to play, do craft, wash them and feed them when their parents need to work or just have a day together, for me is a joy,” one person commented.
Another added: “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!”
Others however were less convinced by Lauren’s story with one person commenting: “'I paid my parents to have my kids for the four hours a week they had them.”
Another person agreed saying: “If they’re doing it all day then yes pay them.”
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