Grandparents babysitting, your house or theirs?

[xSin]

Just curious to get an idea of how others handle the issue of babysitting...

My own mum, she lives a ways away so whenever she babysits its here at our house which is what I would prefer anyways. My feeling is that my LO has enough "stress" at this young age of not being with mummy or daddy, that she should at least have the reassurance and comfort of being in her own home. My mom has been able to get her down for naps and to bedtime, just fine.

My OH's mom, who lives nearby, will only babysit at her house. The last time we tried this was last Halloween and it did NOT go well. Wee one did not take well to it, and was UBER clingy for the next week+. As a result, I've not even asked her to babysit again since then unless its been during the daytime while I go to an appointment that for some reason LO can't come with. (Although those are seriously few and far between)

Do you let your toddler go to their grandparents for the night or do you generally get the grandparents to come to your place while you go out if you need a date night?

LO is almost 22 months.

 

[steele]

He goes to their house! We only live 10 minutes away and he goes down fine there. Plus it's nice for us to be able to come back home and get up when we please

 

[special_kala]

90% of the time its a our house.

All their stuff is here and they are comforable here so it makes sense.

 

[sparkle_1979]

With my mum it's both. The girls love being at hers but sometimes she comes here

If and when hubby's mum watches them it would only ever be here x

 

[RachA]

We do both with both sets of parents. We are lucky enough to have both sets within a 15min walk of our house. Right from the start both children have been happy to sleep at grandparents houses. They have always been better at staying at my parents though so my preference is that if it's my inlaws that are looking after them they will go to sleep at ours.

 

[jodilee6]

Bit of both depending on how long were out and also if either set of parent needs to work the next day

LO settles fine anywhere so that isn't an issue for us, we just go for which suits the most

 

[seoj]

My MIL always comes to our house- it's just easier tbh. She only lives like 15mins away- and her house is not set up for a LO running around... and it's easier on her too since all of LO's things/toys/bed etc... are all at our house. She does child care 2 days a week though- and comes to our house early in the AM before LO is even awake. On the off time's she helps out on the weekend (which is rare) she still comes to our place. There has been times she's been home taking care of things when LO was sleepy- and went down fine there though.

When my Mom was able to watch LO (when LO was a baby)- I took her to her place. But only cause it was close to my work- and she was setup with everything she needed- and due to health reasons, it was easier on her to have me bring LO over there. But LO never had an issue with it. If so- then we might of renegotiated???

 

[AngelofTroy]

It depends, Micah is incredibly comfortable at my parents house, so if we're going to be home late or want to have a few drinks, he stays at their house. They're very happy and he's very happy to stay there and have breakfast with them! But if we're going to be back by 10/11pm then they'll put him to bed at ours and wait for us to come home
OH's parents rarely babysit as they live further away.

 

[icklemonster]

If we're going out LO always stays the night at my Mum's or the in-law's house. They share our childcare while I work 3 days a week too, and LO adores being round both their houses.

It means we get a lie-in too, and don't have to worry if we want a few glasses of vino!

It would never occur to me to ask them to come here. That said, because they do our childcare they both have cots, highchairs, tons of toys etc, so guessing that makes a big difference.

We go out about twice a month together xxx

ETA - sometimes we stay at my Mum's or the in-laws with LO, but generally that is if logistically that makes it easier!

 

[Banshee]

My in laws look after the boys once a week while we work and they come to ours for the day. They have everything for the boys here - all their toys, beds etc etc.
If we're just going out for the evening then whoever is babysitting will also come to ours and go home when we get home.
My dad sometimes watches the boys for a few hours during the day if I have to go out and he'll come to ours too.
A few times the boys have been to the in laws overnight but literally only a handful of times.

 

[babyblog]

We do both. My parents sometimes have the boys overnight so that's obv at their house but for evenings it depends what direction we're going in, whether we'll be drinking etc. Mine love going to theirs as they're there in the week anyway and have lots of toys there

 

[TryinFor1]

Lo goes to my moms house because I trust her, her house is ridiculously clean, and she watches him.

Mil comes here because she doesn't watch him very closely (but in a weird way. she is so like oddly infatuated with him that she watches his face but not what he is doing. an example of this is she swept our floor which was nice but that required taking a plug socket protector out that she didn't replace. Lo was playing with it right in front of her and she was so focused on his face that she was paying no attention to the fact his fingers were almost in the socket. I walked in the room and screamed and only then she noticed and then started laughing. Like wtf?), her house is dangerous (nails sticking out all over the walls, her dog pisses everywhere and she takes her time cleaning it), among other things. I just don't trust her house until she decides to make it safe for lo so she will come here until further notice.

 

[supertabby]

DD mostly goes to their houses and will stay overnight, she's totally comfortable there. On a couple of occasions my mum has babysat at our house just for the evening but usually she has her overnight at her house. Both sets of parents prefer to have her at theirs but they'll happily do what we prefer - we prefer it too usually as we get a lie in the next morning! (Maybe not now DS is here but once he's old enough to be babysat too we will)

My mum has toys, booster seat for table, sippy cups, toilet seat etc. MIL has toys, nappy bin, plates and cups, travel cot, monitor etc (in laws have 5 grandkids under four years old with #6 on the way so they've set up all the stuff). We do have to pack some stuff for her obviously but they do have lots too. She has a travel toiletries bag that's always ready packed (toothbrush, hairbrush, hair clips, sudocrem etc) so we just throw that in a holdall with some clothes and pjs and she's good to go.

DD has so far always settled fine in a new place on holiday etc, I think it may help that she spends nights away at grandparents every few weeks - or maybe we're just lucky she's adaptable. We also stay overnight ourselves as a family at parents sometimes too, if we're having a night in with them having dinner etc, so she was used to that before she started being there without us.

 

[SophiasMummy]

My mum cant come to my house as I have a dog and she is allergic but even if she wasnt when she babysits LO stays at her house, she even has her own bedroom and seperate toy room at my mums, she loves staying there and always has despite the fact shes inly stayed about 10 times in 3 years

 

[Snow Owl]

My mums house. But then she has him 3 days a week and has more toys / baby stuff than we do!! Lol

 

[Bevziibubble]

They come over to ours at the moment as it's where LO feels the most comfortable and all get stuff is here. When she gets more used to the babysitting then she will probably go to theirs for a change sometimes.

 

[RaspberryK]

Either really but I prefer it when he stays there so I don't have to worry about how clean and tidy the house is.
If we are late home and they don't have him over night then at ours so he can go to bed as normal.
Xx

 

[Noodlebear]

We do both. If it's going to be a late night he'll have a sleepover at my mum's or OH's parent's as I don't think it's fair to expect people to wait up/disturb LO while he's sleeping. If not it'll be at our's.

 

[SillyMoo1983]

DD always goes to my parents for babysitting and sleeps over just fine. She sees a lot of them and feels very at home there. She loves sleepovers at my mum and dads. She goes to MILs too but never for sleepovers. Usually just a couple of hours if anything. If it's an evening thing and my parents can't babysit I don't go.

 

[jd83]

We do both. With MIL/FIL, they sometimes come to out house to watch the kids for a few hours if we are going out for a date, but the kids also go to their house about once a month for a sleepover and LOVE going over to stay the night.

My parents only watch them at our house, and honestly, that's about never anyways. My mom has come over to visit/stay the night about 3 times in the 4 years we've lived there. She'd rather not watch them at her house as its really not baby friendly. She has a lot of breakable things, nice furniture with cream color fabrics, etc that could easily be ruined by little kids. I have no problem with this, as she waited until all the kids were out of the house to be able to get all these nice things for her home, so she is perfectly entitled to keep them nice. I do wish she'd come visit/watch the kids more at our house though, so they'd get to know their grandmother better.