My son is 14 months old and in that time me and my gf have had two date days and one night away where we had to ask our parents to babysit. My gf’s family are not interested at all so we don’t involve them but my parents act like they’re interested until we ask them to babysit. I’ve raised this issue with them before saying I feel like we’re a burden for asking, they say we’re not but then their actions say different.
A common example is a new cinema opened in our town a year ago and my parents keep saying we should try it out but then don’t offer to babysit for a few hours so we could go. The last time they did any form of baby sitting was November and since then we’ve not asked them to babysit because they don’t seem like they really want to and don’t offer. This is in complete contrast to my 6 year old nephew who they would babysit for at least once a month since he’s been about 6 months old. My parents are only in their late 50’s so it’s not like they can’t cope.
I’d like to know other people’s opinions on this and whether you feel you should just ask people to babysit or should you wait for an offer.