Don’t presume grandparents are babysitters, says court
Swati.Deshpande@timesgroup.com
Mumbai: 21.05.2018
Parents ought to steer away from a presumption that grandparents are meant to be babysitters, a family court has said, adding that grandchildren should not become their burden in old age.
“It is the primary duty of the parents and not the grandparents to take care of their infant children. Grandparents may be there to support, guide and assist in raising the children. However, they should not be burdened to babysit grandchildren as their primary duty, by compromising their relaxation, entertainment and travel plan,” said the court in Pune while passing final orders in a woman’s plea for maintenance for herself and two children. The court said the woman’s tone in holding her in-laws responsible for having to place her children, when infants, in a creche, was ‘absolutely wrong’. “Grandparents cannot be blamed, if a child needs to placed in a creche,’’ said the court.
Observing that with more women getting educated, employed and working, like their husbands, the family court judge Swati Chauhan said, “It is not an unusual scene that their children are kept in creche for their care.” “It is the prerogative of the old and aged grandparents to willingly accept the task to babysit their grandchildren considering their own age, health, strength, engagement in extracurricular activities and other plans,’’ she said in a recent order.
The estranged couple, now in their 40s, had married over two decades ago. The wife had moved the family court for maintenance for herself and the children in 2012 when both were minors, the youngest was 10 years old. She alleged that her husband neglected their financial needs resulting in her having to resume her job four months after the birth of their first born. She also alleged that a few months after taking care of her infant child, her inlaws had gone travelling and also to visit their other son. So she had to keep her children in a creche and paid for it. She had alleged that her husband never took responsibility for the children’s expenses for the past decade.
The family court said it was “a very prevalent presumption of majority Indian families that grandparents are a substitute for nannies.”
SETTING THINGS STRAIGHT:
The court held that grandparents cannot be blamed if a child needs to placed in a creche
Swati.Deshpande@timesgroup.com
Mumbai: 21.05.2018
Parents ought to steer away from a presumption that grandparents are meant to be babysitters, a family court has said, adding that grandchildren should not become their burden in old age.
“It is the primary duty of the parents and not the grandparents to take care of their infant children. Grandparents may be there to support, guide and assist in raising the children. However, they should not be burdened to babysit grandchildren as their primary duty, by compromising their relaxation, entertainment and travel plan,” said the court in Pune while passing final orders in a woman’s plea for maintenance for herself and two children. The court said the woman’s tone in holding her in-laws responsible for having to place her children, when infants, in a creche, was ‘absolutely wrong’. “Grandparents cannot be blamed, if a child needs to placed in a creche,’’ said the court.
Observing that with more women getting educated, employed and working, like their husbands, the family court judge Swati Chauhan said, “It is not an unusual scene that their children are kept in creche for their care.” “It is the prerogative of the old and aged grandparents to willingly accept the task to babysit their grandchildren considering their own age, health, strength, engagement in extracurricular activities and other plans,’’ she said in a recent order.
The estranged couple, now in their 40s, had married over two decades ago. The wife had moved the family court for maintenance for herself and the children in 2012 when both were minors, the youngest was 10 years old. She alleged that her husband neglected their financial needs resulting in her having to resume her job four months after the birth of their first born. She also alleged that a few months after taking care of her infant child, her inlaws had gone travelling and also to visit their other son. So she had to keep her children in a creche and paid for it. She had alleged that her husband never took responsibility for the children’s expenses for the past decade.
The family court said it was “a very prevalent presumption of majority Indian families that grandparents are a substitute for nannies.”
SETTING THINGS STRAIGHT:
The court held that grandparents cannot be blamed if a child needs to placed in a creche
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