In general my Mum and Dad are fantastic with both kids, and I am so grateful to them for watching the girls whilst I'm on placement.
However, niggles are...
Mum sometimes winds Roo up something awful, and doesn't stop when it goes past fun and into Roo getting stressed. Like she'll sit with one of Roo's toys and go "My toy!" and it'll start as a silly game with Roo going "No, my toy!" but then when she really doesn't get it back after a few back & forths, she starts to get upset and Mum still doesn't give in
If I'm there then I intervene, but I worry about it when I'm not there, and I don't think it's really helping to teach Roo to share
We had to put our foot down about snacks when Roo is there, as it got to the point where Roo was asked "Would you like a snack? Chocolate gems, chocolate buttons or crisps."
She is allowed all those things in small amounts, but it was getting ridiculous. So we've had to drive home the "sometimes foods" angle (for both Roo and my parents!) and thankfully they have taken that on board and she gets fruit or cheese or toast etc now.
Toiletting. Oh lord. We've been having problems with Roo regressing with her toilet training (which I'm sure is related to Moomin's arrival). Anyway, my Mum is blinking neurotic
I knew that my parents were a bit OTT with this - I ended up on laxatives aged 8 because I had such a mental block around going to the loo that I pretty much gave myself fecal impaction
Anyway, I am trying to avoid the same thing happening with Roo, and what we try is gentle encouragement and reminders, and sometimes it's a case of "Right, before we do X, we're all going to the toilet". So far that's working well. But damn, my Mum just can't let it go and will badger and badger at Roo: "Do you need a pee? I think you need a pee. Come on, try and do a pee" and Roo (being a stubborn little thing) just digs her toes in and refuses. And then 20 minutes later she'll have an accident, and the whole thing starts again. This last week has been better though, so fingers crossed.
OK, that was a bit of an essay
Amazing how much I can type when I'm procrastinating...