What are your thoughts on those painfully early morning phone calls? The ones at the crack of dawn.
Lately, my wife’s sister-in-law has made a habit of ringing us up at 5 a.m. To make things even more exasperating, my wifes phone also starts blaring at that hourher own sister calling, of course. Id barely even opened my eyes. The cheek of it was absolutely astonishing.
When I finally picked up, this is what I heard:
“Why are you still in bed? Were heading out well before eleven on important business. Keep an eye on the kids, will you? Theyre waiting at your gate.”
Before either of us could utter a word, shed hung up.
My wife and I stared at each other, bewildered. What grandchildren at this hour? And why on earth were they waiting outside our gate?
I threw on some clothes and hurried out. The dogs were barking like mad, so there had to be someone there.
Sure enough, three of our grandchildren were lined up by the fence. I was absolutely gobsmacked.
We shuffled the children inside and started ringing their parents to find out what on earth was going on. The reply we got was:
“Dont you love your grandchildren at all? You hardly help us out with money, never buy them presents. So, you can at least spend some time with them. Weve got important matters to attend to, and you can salvage your reputation in your own childrens eyes.”
My wife and I were speechless. The youngest wasnt even a year oldthey hadnt even packed nappies or baby food for him.
Fortunately, theres a Tesco in town thats open round the clock. My wife headed off to pick up everything the young ones might need. After all, we had to feed them something.
It was a long, challenging day. The children were restless, wouldnt nap, bursts of tears every half hour. Mind you, who can blame them after being woken up so early?
Their parents didnt collect them until three in the afternoon. And that was only because we kept ringing to remind them. Looking after someone elses children is an enormous responsibility.
To top it off, we were criticised for buying the wrong nappies and food. Yet, they still took everything home with them.
Were now left wondering how to stop this from happening again. The thought of waking up to see our grandchildren at the gate at five in the morning terrifies us. Im still rather rattled after the whole ordeal.
What this taught me is to set some clear boundariesno matter how close you are as a family, its important to stand your ground. Otherwise, youll find yourself at the mercy of other peoples plans, and those early wake-up calls just keep coming.
