Grandparent

These are my lovely grandchildren on one of their visits to my home, and they are a joy to spend time with, but, I have a problem with people who think that as a grandparent I am under some type of obligation to care for them whenever their parents want me to. What the hell is that about, I mean I do have my own life. Someone on facebook asked the question, "should grandparents be paid for babysitting," and I said hell yes, because I am talking about the parents that expect the grandparents to babysit everyday while they go off to work, not the occasional stay. A couple of people said , no, while others said that you could pay them by taking them to dinner or paying a bill for them. Someone even mentioned that the grandmother was sitting at home watching her stories, what? I think or at least I hope that this depiction of grandparents as having nothing better to do than take care of grandkids is just a horrible stereotype. I hope that the new millennium grandparents are blossoming all over the place and out in the world having wonderful creative adventures. It is alright to bake cookies, hang out with your grandchildren and watch your stories, which is all television is anyway, but, just not all of your precious time.