Canberra sisters Amy Blyton and Lauren Barisic were pregnant at the same time and had their baby boys within eight weeks of each other. When they were ready to return to work full-time, the sisters and their mum came up with an arrangement.
Their mum would take long service leave from her job as a learning support assistant in an early childhood school so that she could look after the boys four days a week. But Blyton and Barisic weren’t going to let her do it for free.
“My sister, Mum and I made a payment agreement to match Mum’s LSA wage,” Blyton explains. “Since the passing of my Dad, Mum is not in the position to be without an income, so paying her to look after the boys was a logical idea.”
When the long service leave came to an end, Blyton and Barisic’s mum retired from her job so she could keep looking after her grandsons.
Blyton’s son has just turned two, and Barisic’s son is almost two. The childcare arrangement is still going, and everyone is very happy with it.
Top Comments
My kids are so gosh-darn adorable, I'm still waiting for the grand-parents to offer payments for the privilege of minding them.
Except for kid number 2 - that's still under negotiation.
I paid my mum too, not as much, but as much as I could afford (more than covering costs of food etc.)