Should family members feel obliged to help their relatives out with childcare? 

The cost of childcare has come down in recent years but for many parents, having a relative who is willing to step in and help out is a godsend. 

On Lunchtime Live, Katie Makk from the Opinions Matters podcast said she would never have thought to help out until she became a mother herself. 

“My brother recently moved back from the UK and he has a five-year-old and a two-year-old,” she said. 

“The five-year-old, who is in school with my son, I collect them both from school and take them together. 

“It’s only becoming a parent that you realise this is really hard.”

Ms Makk described parenthood as something that is both “constant” and “very, very difficult”. 

“As parents we all like a break,” she said. 

“Parenting is hard; it’s demand, it’s harder than any job I’ve ever done.” 

A grandparent and child. Picture by: Pixabay. 

Once a month, Ms Makk said her in-laws and parents help out a lot with childcare and she realises this makes a “lot luckier” than most people. 

However, she also feels strongly that this is also something that family members should do for each other. 

“I think decent family members, whatever about friends, I think decent family members would step in and help,” she said. 

“I kind of exhaust my childcare a bit because when I work during the week my parents-in-law and my parents do the childminding.”

'I got nothing'

Another caller, Jason, recalled how he took a “massive interest” in his sibling’s children when they were younger. 

“I’m an adventure sports instructor, so I took them sailing,” he said. 

“I took them canoeing, I put them on trips down the southwest coast of Ireland.

“I loved doing it because I had an imprint on those little children’s minds.” 

Despite this, his siblings are not quite as involved in the lives of his two young boys. 

“I got nothing,” he said. 

“Myself and my wife, we don’t live in the same county [as my siblings].

“We had twin boys, they’re six-years old now and we have to pay for a babysitter to come in.

“I would never expect friends to look after my kids.”

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Main image: Grandparents with their granddaughter. Picture by: Alamy.com