When I was growing up, both of my grandparents lived pretty close, but my paternal grandparents were only 1 mile away. I spent A LOT of time there, mostly on my own accord when I was older, but they did watch me quite a bit when I was a baby.

I feel very lucky to have such a close relationship with all of my grandparents. I always said I want my children to have that as well. My parents are 2 and 1/2 hours away, but MIL is only 20 min. and I've said to DH, "I hope our children will be close enough with their grandmother that they will WANT to go visit her and even spend the night, like I did with my own."

Unfortunately, DH has seen these types of scenarios as the grandparents being "taken advantage of" with close friends and family. One couple in particular, I feel, has definitely crossed that line, going as far as saying that "They want to spend time with the kids!" when they use the grandparents essentially as a daycare or every single time they go out. These are 65+ people with ailing health, trying to take care of an "energetic" child. I think the parents have held back a little since #2 arrived, but not a lot.

This has, unfortunately, tainted DH's mind, thinking that he would never want to put that kind of pressure on his mom. I'm really hoping that when we get to that point, we will be able to find a balance...

And so the title question... do the grandparents babysit often? Do you make sure to limit? Have you seen someone take advantage of having the grandparents close by?