They say it takes a village to raise a child.
This is an African proverb that means that an entire community of people must pitch in to help raise children successfully.
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But what if the elders aka Granny want to retire from childcare? That’s the dilemma facing one young grandmother who helped raise two of her grandkids .
But with another little one on the way, she’s ready to tap out.
Grandparents are basically the backbone of families.
Besides the years of wisdom, they are also constantly coming to the rescue for their children and their grandchildren.
But like our Reddit user, some of them also need a break.
Reddit user EconomyCharge6507 brought her story to the channel AIMI (Am I The [Expletive]).
This is where Reddit users share their stories to let others determine whether they’re in the wrong or not in particular situations.
Here, she explained that she and her husband had their children young.
Since her daughter got pregnant at 16, she and her husband were heavily involved in helping care for the child.
“At first because she was young and juggling school alongside being a single mom.
Then she finished college, got a great job and her husband has a high paying job as well.”
Since her daughter and her husband worked so much, this cut into the “us” time the grandparents were supposed to have.
“We were basically raising a third child,” she explained.
“We took him to school, babysat him in the afternoons. He’d spend at least one month with us during the summer.”
As a result, they are all very close and they don’t resent the help they gave.
But now the grandchild is all grown up and at college across the country.
Since her husband is retired, they want to move down South for a real retirement of sunny weather and relaxation.
“It’s been the plan for years. We’re working on selling the house and plan to be down there by Christmas,” she wrote.
However, her daughter has since had another child who is two years old and has another one on the way.
“My daughter says we shouldn’t move because she may need our help.”
“I said while her father is retiring from work, I’m retiring from childcare,'” she shared.
In other words, she wants to have a different kind of relationship with the kids. She wants to see her grandchildren and spoil them, but she doesn’t want to raise any more.
Her daughter got offended at this and said, this is just “what grandmothers do.”
The grandmother didn’t agree. They have another son who doesn’t mind that they will be moving.
They will live closer to him and he has no plans to have kids.
“It’s my daughter and her husband who are mad at us, especially as I said I was ‘retiring,'” she explained.
“They say I make it sound like caring for my grandson was a chore.”
Like all the posts on AITI, she left the floor open for users to share whether she’s in the wrong.
Almost everyone was on her side. “You can do what you want with your free time,” one wrote.
Another pointed out how the needs of a 16-year-old mother and one in her 30s is very different.
“You went above and beyond for you grandson. You’re at a different stage in life – and so is your daughter.”
A lot of people agreed with that sentiment, pointing out that a grandparent grows older, they want to spend more time on themself.
One commenter pointed out how raising kids is the responsibility of the parents and no one else.
It shouldn’t fall on other people to parent, raise, or take care of your children constantly when you chose to have a child.
“Any help you get from parents/grandparents/siblings/friends/etc is a FAVOR and a blessing, not a requirement or a guarantee.”
One even said that raising a child IS a chore. “If it wasn’t, they wouldn’t have had you do it.”
The consensus was pretty clear: the grandmother was *not* in the wrong for wanting to retire from childcare.
Now comes the hard part of trying to convince her daughter of that…
Now, we want to know what you think.
Do you agree with the comments? Is the grandmother not in the wrong?
Let us know down below in the comment section! We would love to hear from you.
