In-laws

So we're spending the week at the in-laws, partly due to the wife having a conference down the road and partly due to it being free accommodation.

Now I want  to get in quick and say that I get on very well with my in-laws, including brothers and sister in-law, so this isn't going to be a rant about the terrible in-laws. In fact I've learnt a lot from the father in-law, most of my DIY skill have come from him.

My main thoughts on this post are about taking advantage of the in-laws and is it wrong to do so. The same applies to my own parents as well, I just happen to be at the in-laws as I write this, so it's kinda focused on them.

So what am I rambling on about? Well when I'm at the in-laws I tend to hide in bed until late, sometime until lunch time, and I tend to duck out of parenting responsibilities whenever I can. Is this bad? I don't really think so, grandparents I feel are there to take some of the pressure off of you and give you time to recharge your batteries. Obviously the grandparents have got to want to be involved, luckily mine do and are happy to. Quite often they will take the kids out while I monge in front of the TV all day.

But is this taking advantage of there good will? After all they are my children not theirs and they have raised their own children and in my in-laws case they still are, as the brother in law is still at school.

Take today as an example, I went for a walk to Costa, then around town and finally for a tea in a café by the park, before finally joining the wife and in-laws in the play park with the kids. I enjoyed my relaxing day but have done no childcare at all, and plan on doing so as much as I can while I'm here. From my own point of view, I remember my own grandparent not really helping with childcare at all, in some cases being quite the opposite. My wife's grandparents on the other had helped a lot with the childcare, doing school runs and taking them at the weekends. Either way both sets of grandparent want to help and seem to enjoy doing so.

Now I'm going round in circles with this post, so I'll pose the question one last time;

Is it right to take advantage of the grandparent in such a way?