Although we have just entered February, a lot of us are still feeling the post-Christmas slump and are generally feeling worn down from the weather, work, life in general.
This is definitely true for Reddit user Nervous-Discount-150 who posted on the popular subreddit /r/AmITheAsshole saying, “I am in my late 50s, and in general last month with the holiday and then my job being rough the beginnings of the month I am tired. Today I [am] able to take a half day and this weekend I plan on doing nothing.”
Haven’t we all been there? Tired and planning to not have plans? I definitely have. However, one thing stood in her way. She said, “I got a call today asking if I could babysit the grandkids tomorrow night.”
Right. As much as we love our families, seeing them doesn’t usually involve calm, quiet environments. Especially when it’s young children.
Is it OK to not want to babysit your grandchildren?
In the post, the grandmother explains that her son and daughter-in-law (abbreviated to DIL in the post) were going to a care home to visit a relative and didn’t want their children to go with them.
Her daughter-in-law called and asked if she could look after them and she responded no, because she needed to recharge. She was then asked if she really planned on doing nothing, to which she said yes, leading to an argument between the two women which eventually made it to her son, too.
Though she was accused of being selfish and told she could “easily” look after the grandchildren, the grandmother stood firm and her son was angry with her, too. She took to Reddit to ask if she was in the wrong in this situation.
While this isn’t always the case on /r/AmITheAsshole, the responses were fairly conclusive: Not The Asshole.
AggravatingSundae989 summarised the answers saying, “You are absolutely allowed to have time to yourself without explanation. I have three young kids - and I would never ask my MIL ‘why’ she couldn’t watch my kids! So rude! It’s not up to me to evaluate the worthiness of how other people choose to spend their time. Someone says ‘no’ then that’s that.”
ReviewOk929 also offered advice that we should all take heed of, too, “We are all allowed to be selfish sometimes to protect ourselves mentally and recharge our batteries.”