Wow! Super nutty especially after you bought plane tickets to visit.

I think DH needs to have a conversation with her so she doesn't reach in your pockets. Leave it up to him; I'd ignore it as it's so ridiculous.

Not normal, sounds bizarre actually. She must like to try to make trouble.

1) she told you Teo to go out for a date and she'd watch the young child, put him to bed
2) you do so
3) days later she asks to be paid! To watch her grandkids at her own house after you all paid to fly out to visit her for a long weekend!?!

At least your husband told you the last part. Many would have just nodded and handed over a bunch of $20s. What he he think she is so pissed at? Just spend one minute on that question and then 10 seconds declining her afterthought payment request.

Anonymous wrote:I would deadpan and ask her how much rent was while you stayed at her house too.

Or tell her she needs to reimburse you for your travel costs (since visiting her sure as sh*t isn't a vacation for OP).

I would deadpan and ask her how much rent was while you stayed at her house too.

Very much not normal.

I don't get on with my MIL that well but when we visit (we also live several states away from her so visits aren't that frequent), she always wants us to leave DD with her for an evening so she gets some solo time. Yes, it gets framed as "go have a date night" but it's really for MIL. I'm not super comfortable with letting MIL watch DD but it means a lot to MIL so I go along with it. I'd be completely flummoxed if she then asked for money when she is the (only) one pushing for us to leave DD with her for an evening.

Not normal at all. Really petty of her, in fact. Besides the fact that she should have notified you her rates and conditions before providing the "service".

How much is she asking for?

Anonymous wrote:
I highly doubt this is a sign she needs money badly. This seems to be either social issues or passive aggressive revenge for a perceived slight, and of the two, the latter seems more likely.

It's this.

MIL 'offering' to watch DC while you had a date night is not the same as HIRING a sitter. You didn't ask her to sit, she offered. She is a jerk.

Wow she is crazy!!

Not normal and even more odd that DH thinks its normal.

I agree with the PP who said it's driven by emotion. She has gotten mad or annoyed at something, and this is how she's acting out her revenge. What she doesn't realize is that this makes her look like a crappy grandmother who needs to be paid to spend some alone time with her grandchild. Your husband is off base in acting like this is a normal request. Does he think he should charge his mother an hourly rate for coming to visit her?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not normal. But I would pay and never have her do it again.

This. Let us know how much she charges!

+1

Yes! Please tell us how much she's charging. This is so bizarre.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not normal. But I would pay and never have her do it again.

This. Let us know how much she charges!

+1

This is not normal.

My parents watch our kids sometimes when our regular nanny is on vacation or we need extra coverage and I've always paid them for the times that I would otherwise normally be hiring a babysitter. I know that they appreciate the money and I don't want to take advantage of them. Even with this arrangement and the fact that they see the kids pretty frequently, every single time that they've offered to watch the kids so that we could have a date night they have not expected (and actually refused) payment because they're doing it to spend time with the kids and also as a kind gesture to us.

My MIL who sees the kids a lot less frequently since she lives far away would never expect or accept payment for watching the kids.