I told my daughter to stop having kids because she forces me to raise them.

I and my husband Rob have two kids, Erica and Mike.

Both kids are married, but Erica and her husband Steve live near to us, and this issue concerns them.

They work full-time and have two kids, five and four.

Five years ago my daughter asked my husband

and I if we'd be willing to become their full-time child care so she could continue to work

and afford their comfortable life. We agreed, but we didn't discuss much more than watching the

baby and their expectations. I was a teacher and I retired two years before I could take my

pension, so my husband continued to work and we made a few sacrifices like vacations and adding

to our savings, but we were able to make it work so that I could take my full pension at 55

and my husband retired a year later. Our arrangement worked, and we enjoyed having the kids,

except by year three, which was the start of the pandemic, we started to feel like they were

taking advantage of our help. In 2020, during the lockdown, they were both working from home.

They expected us to keep the kids all day, and we wanted to split time since their preschool and daycare was closed.

We settled on two weekdays with them and three with us, and my son-in-law complained about it

pretty much every day. Things got better when the kids were able to go to school. Fast forward

to year four, 2021, and we had a bit of a blow-up over kindergarten.

My daughter didn't want her 5-year-old to start school in the unknown, but I insisted

that he needed to go because I needed the break.

I also asked for the 4-year-old girl to spend more time at the preschool and daycare program.

My son-in-law complained about the cost, but I pushed anyway. They relented, and then this

past spring, my son-in-law pushed for us to take the kids for a week, so they could go on a vacation.

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