Re: How involved are grandparents DC's life?

My parents live in Florida so they're only as involved as the distance allows.

My MIL is not as involved as I wish she would be. Don't get me wrong... she is SO good to us ($$$) and loves her grandbabies to death, but she is such a busy woman. Just getting her to babysit has to be planned a month in advance.

We don't have a lot of help.

Re: How involved are grandparents DC's life?

My parents and DH's parents are polar opposites.

My parents watch DS Thursdays and Fridays so they see him at a minimum of 2 days a week. On the other hand, ILs see him on an average of once every two MONTHS.

It should also be noted that both sets of grandparents live the approximately same distance from us.

Re: How involved are grandparents DC's life?

VERY involved! My Mother takes care of Lexi two days a week for a full day....and my father does also whenever he has a day off during the week. Any chance they get they come to see her or I go over there. We are very close.

We have an apartment in MIL's 2 family house. So she sees DD everyday. She is our night time babysitter and takes Lexi up to her apartment all the time so I can get things done around here. Its a great help!!!

I was very close to my grandparents....and I am so happy DD will be as well.

Plus....my parents speak to Lexi in spanish and MIL speaks to her in Greek! I am hoping to have a trilingual child!

Re: How involved are grandparents DC's life?

My parents are extreamly involved. They watch my girls 2x per week and we see them constantly. They are the greatest people.

Ils aren't really involved more by our choice. They can barely take care of themselves. Mil used to watch dd#1 when she was a baby and after a few major screw ups ( like leaving my daughter unattended and unstrapped in her swing while she was outside smoking and on her cell phone) we decided that they weren't capable of watching our girls.

Re: How involved are grandparents DC's life?

Both sets are EXTREMELY involved. My kids see their Nonna and Nonno about 4-5 times a week. My kids will ask for them and ask to go see them if more than a day passes. I was/am very close with my Nonna/Nonno and growing up they were ALWAYS around. It's important! VERY important!

Re: How involved are grandparents DC's life?

My inlaws make sure to make an appearance each weekend... they are very involved... helped pay for his parties...give him huge gifts...and have a toy box set up just for him at their house. DS is their first grandson.

My Mom...she's got 9 other grandchildren... she goes to NJ each weekend with her BF... so she doesn't see DS as much. She also doen't like to drive so she only relies on us coimng to her. I know she means well, but she's old, and just done. (As she puts it HA) When she does see him, she is very involved.

Re: How involved are grandparents DC's life?

Both my parents have passed away, as well as my FIL

My MIL.........

She had 7 kids of her own (starting at a very young age) and sadly I think could care less whether she had grandchildren or not to be honest....She will babysit if asked (more out of obligation rather than "priveldge" or enjoyment) and when she is around my DC's (or her other grandchildren for that matter) she basically ignores them
When DD was born, we aksed her to hold her to take a picture and she didn;t want to even do that!..When she finally did (after much coaxing) you would think we were asking her to hold a grenade...

It breaks my heart because if my mom were alive, they would be her WORLD...Makes me very sad.

Re: How involved are grandparents DC's life?

IL's are VERY involved. DS gets sooo excited when we see them

My parents not so much

Re: How involved are grandparents DC's life?

my parents are very involved in my son's life. Since Jake was a baby my mom would watch him full time. Now my mom or dad picks Jake up from school everyday. My dad and Jake are best buddies.

my inlaws are also involved, my mother in law does take Jake to shows on weekends.

Jake sees my parents 5-6x a week
he might see my inlaws once a week

Message edited 2/7/2011 8:05:25 PM.

Re: How involved are grandparents DC's life?

My parents, very much so.

DH's parents - well his mom passed away 6 years ago, and his dad lives in IL. He's pretty much a once or twice a year grandparent.

Re: How involved are grandparents DC's life?

James sees my parents at least once a week and spends one weekend a month with them.

He sees my IL's maybe once a month

Re: How involved are grandparents DC's life?

Ummm... ILs not very involved at all. My grandfather is in the hospital and I needed someone to watch DS for an hour so I can go visit and take care of things (my mom is away so it's all up to me). My IL's were "busy". I had to leave DS with a fellow LIFer and friend (You know who you are!!!). What were my ILs doing? Probably folding laundry. They're very regimented with their routines and can't break them w/o advance notice.

Re: How involved are grandparents DC's life?

Very. My father has watched Lily while we're at work since she was 4 months old. And he continues to watch her 4 days a week. My mother in law watches her one day a week, and stops by mostly every weekend to say hi.
Lily is very lucky!

Re: How involved are grandparents DC's life?

MIL sees DD no less than 1x per week. My parents are both gone.

Re: How involved are grandparents DC's life?

My mom and Timmy are best friends! She watches him twice a week. I lost my dad about 5 months after Timmy was born, so Timmy has been an absolute lifesaver for my mom. He has helped her get through the toughest time of her life. He loves his grandma........I try to include her whenever we bring Timmy anywhere, apple picking, White Post Farms, Adventureland. They both make each other smile and having her around is a big help to me as well.

Re: How involved are grandparents DC's life?

My parents are VERY involved. I don't know what we would do without them!!

Re: How involved are grandparents DC's life?

My parents are involved but they live in LI and we live in NJ, plus my dad works full-time and my mom works part-time so distance makes it hard to see them alot. We see them on average 2-3 times a month. But DD is obsessed with my mom. She sometimes comes out and spends a weekday with the kids when she's not working. Or she'll sleep over and my older DD loves that! But I don't think that distance has made DD #1 any less close to them. DD #2 is so young so she doesn't know anything really yet.

MIL is involved but only because she takes DD#1 to school 3 mornings a week. If it weren't for that, the only time we'd see her would be for family events or if she would grace us with her "stop by for 30 min" in between picking up my nieces and getting her nails done. Mind you, she lives ONE MILE from us! It kills me because if that were my mom, she would be here every single day till I kicked her out!

FIL lives in VA and we see him about 3-4 times a year. He's not involved at all. Makes me sad for DH.

Re: How involved are grandparents DC's life?

Both are very involved. My mom and MIL both watch DD during the week. I love it!

Re: How involved are grandparents DC's life?

We live with my ILs and they watch DDs while DH and I work so they are very involved. They see my mom every other week or so. They see my dad about 3/4 times a year.

Re: How involved are grandparents DC's life?

My parents are very involved, they see DS 3-5 times a week. He sleeps over there about 2x a month.

My ILs live in greece. MIL was here when he was born for a month, thats the last time she saw him. FIL (his namesake) still hasnt met him

Re: How involved are grandparents DC's life?

my parents have been dead for a long time. my family is OOS and would love to be more involved, but distance and $ for travel is an issue for them.

MIL/FIL are local very much involved - regular overnight trips. I don't love everything that they do, but I love how involved they are and I know they adore DD so even if they don't always listen to me, it's OK for the most part. I was very close to my grandparents so this is normal for me.

Re: How involved are grandparents DC's life?

Neither set of grandparents are that involved with my children.

ILs see them once every other week at the most. (they babysit while I work)

My mom & dad never see my kids.

Re: How involved are grandparents DC's life?

My parents are very involved and see DS at least once a week. My Dad is just so in love with him, always building him something.

FIL-not in the picture. MIL who lives 25 minutes away has met my 8 month old Son twice, first time when he was 2 months old. She also gave a ton of parenting "advice" both of those times!

Re: How involved are grandparents DC's life?

We live about an hour and a half from both my parents and my in-laws, however, I think they are all involved with my kids equally. We skype with all of them about 2 times a week and speak on the phone about 5-6 times a week. We see everyone about every three weeks. I feel so blessed that my kids have grandparents and a great grandma who love them so much.

Re: How involved are grandparents DC's life?

My dd has seen my parents everyday of her life so far, so I'd say very involved. She is the light in their life. MIL my dd has seen her once and truthfully I wouldn't mind if that was the only time she saw her.