My mom is taking my daughter for the weekend.

United States
August 12, 2010 5:57pm CST
My kids don't get away from the house very often. If I'm lucky I can get hubby's dad or my mom to babysit for a few hours, but it's extremely rare any of my kids spends a night away from home. They did once last year when hubby and I had tickets to a concert, my mom took them all overnight. My oldest has stayed overnight with hubby's dad once or twice. That's about it. Well earlier this week my mom was telling me how when she was a kid, one of her aunts would come to visit from out of town, and take my mom out for the day. They wouldn't do anything special, just go to a playground and hang out at the aunt's hotel room and watch TV. My mom grew up with 3 brothers and no sisters, so that time away meant a lot to her. It was also nice to have someone who listened to whatever she wanted to talk about. So she decided that this weekend she's going to do that for my daughter. Give her a girls weekend (my 15 yr old sister still lives with my mom), and get her away from her 4 brothers for a couple days. They won't leave the house since my mother doesn't drive, so it won't be overly exciting for my daughter.. but it will be undivided attention and no brothers for the whole weekend! I think my daughter will enjoy it very much. Now if only I had someone to take a few more of my kids for the weekend so I could get some peace and quiet! How often do your kids get away from the house and their siblings? if you're a grandparent, do you ever take your grandkids overnight to get them away from their siblings for awhile.. or even just to give their parents a break?
6 people like this
17 responses
@cynthiann (18602)
• Jamaica
13 Aug 10
I can only recollect one of their aunt'staking my three sons for two nights. One of us was always with them. Usually the two of us and we lived miles from anywhere. If I went to the U.K. I usually had one child with me. I had someone to help me int he house and she would babysit if we needed a night out or went out with friends but mostly we did the entertaining and friends came to us. Just make sure your daughter has a few board games with her to play. I am sure that she will enjoy the undivided attention. If would have been even better if YOU could have gone too!
1 person likes this
• United States
13 Aug 10
LOL, no, I don't want to spend a weekend at my mother's. If I wanted to, and had a passport, I could spend a few days in Nova Scotia, Canada. I have a very good friend there who I could stay with.. I've stayed with her before when she lived in Ottawa. It's just not a cheap trip to take.
@mtdewgurl74 (18151)
• United States
13 Aug 10
That is great. She can also get a closer connection with your mother if she starts to do this at least once a month. My little sister is only 9 but I do take her for a weekend or sometimes during breaks I take her for a week. I try to always give my mom who is 62 a break. And I love spending time with her. I didn't have children of my own. But I do claim her as a child of my heart. I spend as much time as I can with her. Used to be more like 3-4 times a week but since my parents moved in January now I only get to see her 3-4 times a month so I try to make the most of it. We don't own a car and live to far from town to walk but we do have fun. Even little scavenger hunts and all..she loves it. She isn't much of a doll player. She is our little tom boy..lol..although she can be girly girly sometimes..lol
@mtdewgurl74 (18151)
• United States
14 Aug 10
I was the 7th child of 8. My mom was 26 when I was born. But my little sister is biologically my niece and my mom adopted her from birth my mm is the one who picked her up at the hospital a few days after her birth. My brothers girl friend didn't want her. I did but my husband was afraid she would take her back when she decided she did want her so my mom ended up adopting her..
• United States
13 Aug 10
I knew you had a baby sister, but I didn't realize your mom was 62.. I guess I assumed she'd had you very young. So she was like 53 when your sister was born.. wow, that's so risky, and almost impossible!
@ravinskye (8237)
• United States
13 Aug 10
My kids don't usually get away from each other. My parents take them over night a few times a year. It used to be pretty much monthly till we had our third one. Then it became a little too much for them to handle. Now that the kids are getting a little older and easier to handle I hope that they will take them more and that maybe my husbands parents will take them more so that we can have some time together. I certainly could use the break. My parents were on vacation this week so they decided to just take our girls and do something special with them. They took them to a cave tour that you ride a boat through and a wild life preserve that they got to ride a bus and see the animals. Then they kept them over night. In a few weeks they are going to take my son and my nephew and do something special with them. The girls really enjoyed it. I'm so ready for school to start though so my kids can get a break away from each other lol. They are getting sick of each other and fighting all day long.
• United States
13 Aug 10
Mine are doing the same thing! Getting on each other's nerves and fighting and driving everyone crazy, including me! My oldest gets to get a break every so often, he'll go over to hubby's dad's house once a week by himself and hang out over there all day.. but none of the younger kids ever get any alone time without the others. My mom was telling me they're going to paint my daughter's nails and maybe even go see a movie tomorrow. She's going to have a blast!
@gdesjardin (1918)
• United States
13 Aug 10
My husband and I have 3 children. The kids don't see my husband's parents seeing that they live on the other side of the country, however, they get to see my parents often as we live in the same town. When they were younger they would go over there for the weekend at least once a month (which was a wonderful break for us). Now that they are older they go individually. One weekend my daughter goes, the other weekend my son goes and so on. Our oldest is now 21 so he doesn't spend the weekend over there anymore, but he does go over often to visit. We also plan special weekend day trips with the kids, sometimes together, sometimes one at a time to give them solo attention.
• United States
13 Aug 10
When we do any sort of day trip we usually bring them all. We can't afford to do these types of things often and it wouldn't be fair to leave any of them out.
1 person likes this
• United States
14 Aug 10
We used to bring all of them, however our oldest usually works weekends, and the other two are 12 and 14, who fight all the time these days. They like to have "special" time with the parents alone. We usually one go for the day and usually it only costs us the gas as we live near the mountains, so we go hiking a lot. When we take our son, he prefers fishing, our daughter would prefer to stay in a mall all weekend long. Usually once a month we "make" them both go together and on rare occasions, when our older boy has a weekend off he comes with us. Of course when they were all younger they always all went with us.
@Angelgirl16 (2171)
• United States
13 Aug 10
Hi katsmeow, I think it is so important that grandparents be a part of children lives. Sometimes, the distance of residency can prevent a lot of physical contact. It is great when everyone live close enough to see each other often. My grandmother lived in the same neighborhood that I grew up in, so I got to do all kinds of fun things we her. I think I stayed at her house more than I did at my own house. I think she hugged more than my mom did, so naturally I wanting the be there. The idea of your mom aunt's is a great ideal, I will have to borrow it the next time I am with my nieces. Your daughter spending the weekend with your mother and little aunt will be a blast. She will have lots to talk about when she comes home. Sorry, you're on your own, I don't babysit.
• United States
13 Aug 10
I was the same way, had a "foster mom" who was a bit like a grandma, and I spent every weekend and school vacation with her.
@sender621 (14894)
• United States
13 Aug 10
I think it is good to get away from your children when you can. Knowing they are in a safe environment in with a close friend or relative is a comfort. We all need a little time to reflect and enjoy a little pampering.
• United States
13 Aug 10
Yes we do!
@GardenGerty (157047)
• United States
13 Aug 10
When my son was married I would have his step kids on occasion. My daughter and granddaughters live too far away to do something without a lot of planning. I was just thinking of this the other day, though.
• United States
13 Aug 10
Too bad you hadn't thought of it at the beginning of summer break, you could have planned a visit then.
• India
13 Aug 10
I can only understand how much your daughter would enjoy that and if all the kids could be away for the weekend, how much you’d enjoy that too coz it happens to me almost every weekend. I know I’m lucky but actually being the only child of my parents, they are naturally very attached to my only son. Since his baby days, they have been taking him away on weekends to our suburb house and he’s learnt all his nature tips, gardening, swimming, cycling, tree climbing etc etc there. Its not as grand as it sounds but the suburb house has lot of greenery around and with a huge pond right next to our backyard, it’s a great place to be just for two days. My dad loves swimming, so they swim often in that pond (and personally I feel its much better than the chlorinated waters of a swimming pool)… Now that his studies are becoming more demanding, he cant go there every weekend and so I know just how much stressful it can be to take care of a child 24x7 (and you have five on them…hats off to you!!!) Your daughter would just love the change of environment and the undivided attention and it’s a great opportunity for her to bond more with her grandma and aunt.
• United States
13 Aug 10
Unfortunately my mom lives in the inner city.. not extremely dangerous, but not somewhere where my daughter can play outside. She'll be indoors all weekend, but she has her grandma and aunt to pay constant attention to her.. and no brothers to bug her all weekend. Though it won't be exciting, it will still be wonderful for her. We don't live in a great house with a great yard.. but we still do plenty of nature type stuff out here, so they aren't missing out on anything.
@AmbiePam (84651)
• United States
13 Aug 10
That's terrific. I'm trying to imagine how I would feel if I were your daughter and got to be away from all of those boys for a couple of days. I think I'd love it! And spending time with grandma is always special.
• United States
13 Aug 10
Yes I'm sure my daughter will love it! She needs a break from her brothers, especially the older 2. She also desperately needs the one on one attention!
• Pamplona, Spain
31 Aug 10
Hiya katsmeow, Sometimes I wish they would (my kids) have a break for whole two weeks that way I could go out and have some peace and quiet as well. Today they are all grumpy everyone and this is one of those Days I wish I was having a break from these lot let alone anyone else. Moms need breaks yes indeed they do the more the better that way we have more energy to start back to normal routine again. I have´nt got to being a Grandma just yet (grin).
@oldchem1 (8132)
13 Aug 10
Lol, I have at least two of my grandchildren for almost all the schoolholidays - as soon as they break up from school they're packing their bags to come and stay with me!!
• United States
13 Aug 10
That's how life was for me when I was a kid... it's awesome for them!
• United States
13 Aug 10
My kids don't spend to much time away from mommy and daddy. When they do it breaks our hearts! My daughter spent a weekend with my parents a couple weeks ago. That was her first time since she was one and now she's four. So, it doesn't happen very often. =) My other 2 haven't spent a night away from us yet for a sleep over.
• United States
13 Aug 10
With 5 kids, I look forward to any break from them I can get.. even if it's only a break from 1 of them.. it benefits them and me!
• United States
13 Aug 10
When my kids were younger they both stayed overnight at their grandparents frequently. Now that they are older they do not do this as often. It probably is because both mine and my husbands parents are 68-72 years and they just aren't quite as much fun as they used to be, not because they don't want to be of course but because they have health problems and such.
• United States
13 Aug 10
My husband's dad is 70 now.. so he doesn't take the kids often. He'll come here to babysit them sometimes, and my oldest will go over there to help him with chores. That's about the extent of it.
@genevy04 (793)
• Philippines
12 Aug 10
I only have 1 kid, and she's a girl. She is very dependent on me. So if given a chance like that, I think I would let her be with her grandmom, but since I don't have a mom anymore because she already passed away, that doesn't happen. Though she have grandmom on his dad's side, that still don't happen.. And my hubby is kind of very strict when it comes to our daughter. He don't easily get convinced about the kid going out with someone else in the family. He always feel that our kid is safer with us parents. But as a mom, I want my kid to experience that. I want her to be able to go out without her parents, so I let her go with her aunt, my sister, whenever there is a chance. I'm confident that my sis would take good care of her..Though I admit I sometimes don't tell her dad that she went out. And still, she goes out for the day only and not for days.. Maybe when she's old enough, maybe then she could.
• United States
13 Aug 10
It is important for kids to get away from their parents for awhile.. it's good both for the kids and the parents.
• United States
13 Aug 10
Well, my brother and I never had to do that with my grandmother because we lived with her since birth. My mother was a single mom, and she had to work three jobs to take care of my brother and me. My grandmother ended raising my brother and I because my mother had to work. My grandmother did a pretty good job of raising us.
@jillhill (37354)
• United States
13 Aug 10
I have my youngest granddaughter overnight quite a bit....and when we are camping that's when my kids get a chance to go on a date or just have fun with the others in the campground. There is usually a party on Friday night at some camper....I however don't party much anymore. I am very happy spending time with Ali Lou!
@gemini_rose (16264)
31 Aug 10
I am an only child, but when I was a kid I remember in the school holidays I would go and stay at my grandparents house for a week. I had two lots of grandparents so I would go and stay with each of them and even though I would pull a face when I had to go because I wanted to play with my mates, once I was there I was spoilt rotten and taken out on days out everywhere and it always ended up that I never wanted to come home! My children now have two sets of grandparents and do you know they have never even taken them out never mind have them stay over! Honestly, they never offer to take any of the kids anywhere and it quite upsets me because they are not having that close relationship with their grandparents that I had. My husbands mum has his sisters kids on a regular basis and has even taken them on holiday abroad for a week but she never seems to want to do anything with ours. I have tried going over on a regular basis to try and build a bond up but nothing ever seemed to come of it so I gave up!. My own parents are the same, I try every so often to take them over on a regular basis but it never stays that way! I would love the kids to have somewhere to go in the holidays for a few days to get away they would love it.