Woman's shock after her mum charges for babysitting grandchildren

A woman has slammed her mother for asking to be reimbursed for money spent on her grandchildren, after babysitting them for a few days. Photo / Getty Images

A woman has been left shocked after her mother asked to be reimbursed for money she spent on her grandchildren, after treating them to lunch while looking after them.

The baffled parent took to the British parenting forum Mumsnet to ask if it was unreasonable to be upset by the request, which came at the end of a few days of babysitting.

Explaining that she and her partner were struggling to get by, she revealed they had ensured the house was stocked full of food so her mother wouldn't be out of pocket while taking the reins, reports Daily Mail.

However she had taken the children out for lunch on a number of occasions, and wanted to be compensated for the money she spent, along with the train fare.

Explaining that the family are struggling to get by at the moment she argued that they had asked her to babysit in order to save money, and even taken her out for a meal to thank her.

She added her mother and her husband had just spent £50k renovating their house, while she and her partner were struggling to pay the rent.

Parents on the forum reacted with outrage and dvised her to explain that she'd asked for help in the first place in order to save money.

Others questioned why she had taken the children out when there was food in the fridge.

One woman wrote: "I think you have to be honest with her and tell her you don't have the money as you weren't expecting her to take the children out, since you'd bought everything in at home for her visit.

"It's not fair that she made the decision to take the children out without checking whether funds were available."

Another mother advised her not to ask for help again, adding that she could find cheap holiday clubs in advance.

"I guess you will need to offer to pay her back in installments and then never ask for her help again," she said.

"Next time you are going to need to find other childcare - holiday clubs are sometimes cheaper if you book in advance."