Help With Grandparents Situation?
My son is 9 months old, and from the time he was born and we got out of the hospital (literally) my family has expected me to bring him to their houses all the time to visit. I live two blocks from my parents and six blocks from my grandparents- very close. My home is clean, more baby friendly, and there is really no reason I can think of that they don't come here. But, they don't. When he was three days old even instead of them coming by and seeing him and maybe, I don't know, asking if I would like some help with laundry or something they told me to bring him to their house.We live close, so its not been that big of a deal, but annoying nonetheless since I have to get both of us ready to go, pack up his things, pack him into the car and then if we are there and he needs a nap we have to pack right back up and go home. I am almost positive I should have put my foot down from the beginning and told them to come here- now they all just EXPECT me to bring him by.
At the end of this month we are moving about 45 minutes away. I will still have some business over here so I will be over here sometimes, but honestly I plan to do those things when my son's dad is with him- making a 45 minute drive (each way) plus running errands in between just won't work with him having to nap and all.
I want my son to have grandparents. He has no one on his dads side of the family so my family is all he has, but should I be the one who ALWAYS makes the effort? Growing up, I remember my grandma would often come to our house. If my mom needed to go somewhere grandma would come watch us- at our house. Even if she just wanted to see us she would come over. Granted we went to her house sometimes too, but it was 50/50. In my situation though my family has literally been to my house ONCE- to bring by christmas gifts. And we live 2 blocks away!
Part of me wants to just not bother with the relationship between them and my son at this point. Since we are moving, I am NOT going to be able to bring him by all the time and I don't really want to go out of my way to try if they can't even try to come to our home to see him now and then (which, lets be realistic, if they won't come the two blocks to my house now, they won't drive 45 minutes to our new house). They have made comments about us moving so far and never seeing him anymore, but we moved to this town SPECIFICALLY to be close to my family so they could see him and help out here and there, and it just turned out to be a waste of time and money because we are so close and they still don't make any effort. Now we are moving because its what we need to do as a family.
I guess I am just curious as to how it is with other families and the grandparents. Do your kids' grandparents ask to see them? Do they come to your house or do you always go to theirs? Do they help out? If you were in my position, would you bring yourself to take the baby to visit them regularly even from the new house, or would you just wait for them to offer to come see him?
I guess its relevant that my grandparents re in their late 80's- however, they do their own grocery shopping and are involved in clubs and other activities still so its not like they are shut ins. My parents are in their mid-late 40's and my mom is working full time (but only commutes about 5 minutes) and my dad is just recently unemployed). Its not like any of them are so busy they can't come by though, IMO.






