Awkward one,...

[ReginaFalangi]

My friend's little girl (4) is in the same reception class as my little girl (4 too). On Wednesdays, my friend asked if i could pick up her little girl from school, and take her to ballet with my DD. I said it's no problem, since i will be doing the miles anyway, and my friend is at work full time.

Ballet finishes at 5:30pm. So i was under the impression that my friend's mum would pick her grandaughter after that.

But then it got to "would you mind giving her her tea?", well..ok, i don't mind...

FInally, today she said "oh well, i just might as well bring her pjs, so you can put her in pjs for me for when i get back from work". So i said "what time will that be?" she said "about 8pm".

So from taking her DD to ballet after school, i am now minding her till bedtime.

I don't mind, although not keen with the way it's all been done.

My friend said today "if you need some money to take her out, let me know". I was taken aback a little, and didn't know what to say, or how much to ask. I am not going to take her out every week, but should i still ask for a bit of money for her food and stuff, and if so, how much?

ALso, is there any legal thing i could do to prevent her suing my arse off in case something happens to her DD while in my care? (God forbids).

Finally, the 2 other days my friend goes to work, her DD goes to after school club, and must be picked up at 6pm. My friend said she would manage that by going to work earlier, and leaving earlier. Am i a bit ott to expect she could do that on a Wednesday too, and pick her up from mine a bit earlier?

Thank you for any advice, i am new to any of this, therefore appreciate any help.

sorry, I would ring and say I can't do it every week as dd goes to grandma's or whatever.
she is taking the p, and what will u do if your dd and her dd fall out? u will be lumbered with two kids who don't want to be together.

Well we have had a good chat, me and her.

I said i really need her to pick up her DD by 7pm, which is fine by me, and leaves me an hour for my DDs to wind down and go to bed.

My friend said very clearly that if i think it's not working out, to let her know, that she will not take it personally, and i can get out of the arrangement at any time, she looked like she meant it.

So i will give a couple of weeks, see how it goes, and then reassess.

I did feel a bit funny as like pp said, it evolved from picking her up from ballet to preparing her for bed without my ..how can i say....approval isnt the word, but you know what i mean, but that's ok. I don't have to give her a bath or get her ready for bed, as I have asked her to be picked up by 7pm.

I'll just see how it goes for a couple of weeks, and we'll just have to see..

Thanks for all your opinions, i did feel like she was taking the mick, but am ok with the latest developments now (ie being picked up at 7pm and no bath etc).

Thanks everyone!