My Mom Has Never Offered to Babysit My Son, So I Won’t Let Her See Him Anymore

Becoming a parent is truly enlightening. It reveals the struggles your parents went through simply by your own experience. On Reddit, One woman’s mother refused to babysit her grandson, knowing they hadn’t had any time off since their son was born. So, she decided to never let her mother see her grandson again. She took to Reddit to explain her side of the story. 

Mom won’t babysit 

The new mother had not had a great introduction into motherhood. A colic baby is not easy, let alone a mother without any prior experience as this is their first child. The mother explained, “My husband and I are first-time parents to an 8-month-old son, Jack. I’ve struggled since he was born. I had a difficult pregnancy — my son had colic, and my maternity leave was short.” 

The worn-out mother has had a lot on her plate, which led her to ask her mom to babysit. Her husband’s mother is not well so his attention is divided between her and their son. To top it all off, they had a burst pipe a few months back.

“Both my husband and I have demanding jobs. I’d love to quit, but we can’t afford it right now. I don’t have many friends in the state where we live, and I feel lonely. My mother-in-law is in poor health, so my husband is gone twice a week to help her. I haven’t had a day or evening off since Jack was born. Plus, our home was flooded by a broken pipe five months ago. Handling the cleanup has been a nightmare.”

Mom, the empty nester

The frustrated mother pointed out that her mom has a lot of free time on her hands. “My mom lives one hour away and has never once offered to help with anything, ” she wrote. “We’ve always had a pretty good relationship. She was a stay-at-home mom and was very loving and devoted to my brother, sister, and me. She’s now an empty nester and spends her days doing yoga and seeing friends.”

According to the mom, the grandmother only wants to see her grandchild whem it is convenient to her. “My mom only wants to see the baby if it’s very low effort,” she said about her mom. “I asked her a few times if she could babysit or run an errand, but she always says no. Once I called her at the height of one of my postpartum depression episodes, saying I was scared to be alone and asking her to come over. But she had brunch plans. I stopped asking for anything until today.”

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She refused to babysit

“My best friend is getting married next weekend in a state which is 2 hours away by plane. I’m the maid of honor and my husband is officiating,” said the mom. Being the maid of honor, you can imagine the stress she was under when their babysitter canceled at the last minute. “Well,” she said. “The babysitter called on Friday and canceled. I’ve spent the past three days calling childcare agencies with zero luck.”

She begged her mom to help her out, but to no avail. “I finally explained my desperation to my mom and asked her if she could watch Jack for 24 hours,” she said. “I also offered to fly my mom with us, get her a hotel room, and she’d then only need to watch him for five hours. I was in tears begging her, but my mom said no. She has a yoga class that she doesn’t want to cancel.”

“The last straw“

This mom had had enough of her mom refusing to help out and babysit. As a result, she has refused to let her mom see her grandson ever. “It was the last straw after months of no empathy as I dealt with postpartum depression,” she said. “I told my mom that, since she is never willing to help, I will be cutting off all contact and she won’t get to see her grandson. I know my mom is under no obligation to help us, but then she should not expect to see my son. Am I a terrible person for denying my mom a relationship with her grandson because she never offers to help?

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