Unpaid caregiving can start as a favor but can quickly turn into an expectation.

One grandmother happily looked after her grandkids to help out her daughter.

But when she made travel plans that coincided with the kids’ time off from school, her daughter reacted with frustration that caught her off guard.

Read on for the full story!

AITA for booking a holiday outside of school vacations?

I (60F) babysit my two grandchildren, 12 and 10F, before and after school for my daughter (39F), who is a single mother.

The children spend every school vacation with their father, so mostly if I plan a trip away, I do so during school holidays.

But this time, there was a bit of a miscommunication with her daughter.

But I booked a holiday outside of school holidays for myself and my sister.

I spoke to my daughter at the time of booking a few months ago, but am not actually going for another 4 months.

Yesterday it came up in conversation.

My daughter was upset—she apparently had not paid attention to when my trip was, but had assumed it would be during the holidays like usual—and was upset when she worked out it wasn’t.

The grandmother defends her choices, but her daughter is still angry.

I told her clearly that it wasn’t in school holidays, but she thinks I didn’t tell her.

I had my reasons for booking when I did: it’s cheaper, my sister could get time off, it’s a better season weather-wise.

And when I first brought it up, my daughter said she would work it out.

So now my daughter is angry with me for not considering her needs and wants me to change my booking.

AITA for refusing to change my booking to suit my daughter?

She shouldn’t feel guilty about taking a trip for herself, no matter what her daughter says.

What did Reddit have to say?

If anything, her daughter should have been supportive of her taking some time off.

Dramatics aside, her daughter has plenty of time to find other babysitting arrangements.

Finding childcare may be tough sometimes, but you should still support and care for your own family’s wellbeing.

What her daughter is doing just isn’t right.

This grandmother was happy to help out when she could, but she also needed space to live her own life.

Caregivers need care too.

If you thought that was an interesting story, check out what happened when a family gave their in-laws a free place to stay in exchange for babysitting, but things changed when they don’t hold up their end of the bargain.