The day I asked my daughter to pay me for taking care of her children…she got upset with me.
She looked at me as if I were a bad mother.
As if I had asked for something unfair.—“How can you charge me for taking care of your own grandchildren?” —she said, annoyed.
And I stayed quiet…because sometimes mothers stay silent so they don’t break their children’s hearts.
But inside, something hurt.
Because no one sees everything my body has had to endure.
Every day I wake up early.
I prepare their breakfast.
I dress them.
I take them to school.
I care for them when they’re sick.
I put them to sleep when they cry.
While their mother works peacefully…
I carry everything.
And I didn’t do it for a day.
Or a week.
I did it for years.
But now my body is not the same.
My knees hurt.
My back burns.
Sometimes I feel dizzy.
Sometimes I feel like my heart is going to burst out of my chest from exhaustion.
And even so…no one asked me if I could keep going.
Because when a grandmother takes care of children for free…everyone sees it as normal.
But when a grandmother says she can’t do it anymore…suddenly she becomes the villain of the story.
My daughter says I’m exaggerating.
That taking care of children isn’t that hard.
The funny thing is, she herself doesn’t want to do it all day.
That’s why she leaves them with me.
And I understand her…because I know working is exhausting.
But there’s something children should understand before getting angry at their mothers:
Grandmothers are not eternal babysitters.
They get tired too.
They get sick too.
They grow old too.
And the saddest part of all…is that many children get so used to their mother always being there…that the day she sets a boundary…
they forget everything that woman has already given for them.
Because taking care of grandchildren for a day…is love.
Taking care of them every day for years..is already a sacrifice that is wearing someone’s life away.
And if any child gets upset because their mother asks for help…maybe they should ask themselves a very uncomfortable question:
Who is really selfish?
The mother who no longer has the strength…or the child who believes their mother should sacrifice herself until she gets sick just to make their life easier?