Danita McLaughlin leaves her home in New Marshfield, Ohio, before dawn to head to her daughter, Melanie Shaulis's, house before her daughter leaves for work and her grandchildren wake up on Monday, September 22. Danita normally watches the children from six in the morning until five in the afternoon when either Melanie or her husband Josh Shaulis return home.
After 30 years of teaching, the last thing Danita McLaughlin thought was that she would spend the next few years surrounded by even more children. However, after her two daughters, Miranda and Melanie, began to have families of their own, she immediately stepped into her new role of the always-available grandmother. “I wasn’t planning on babysitting,” Danita McLaughlin said. “That wasn’t ever in my mind after retiring.” Now based on the day of the week, she and her husband are part of a musical chairs game of grandchildren as they go to various homes and are dropped off and picked up by a rotation of parents.
During the pandemic, Danita said she was relieved that she could watch the grandchildren and keep them within the family pod. Her main difficulty was entertaining the younger kids with drawing and games while trying to to run a “grandma school” for the older kids who were missing in-person learning.
“I just felt fortunate because so many of my friends couldn’t be together with their kids,” she said.
Although some days she comes home dead tired, Danita wouldn’t trade all the extra time she gets to have with her grandchildren as they grow up. She knows they won’t always need her to change their clothes, cook them breakfast, or be able to fall asleep on her lap while she reads to them, so she cherishes every moment she has now.
This story was photographed and edited in three days as part of the 73rd Missouri Photo Workshop
Mangus Shaulis and Danita McLaughlin look at Melanie Shaulis as she kisses Silas Shaulis goodbye before heading to work in the morning. Danita said her favorite time of day is when they lay on her in the mornings as they're waking up. "I know they'll be too big for that one day," she said. "It's a grandma thing."
Danita McLaughlin changes her grandson Mangus Shaulis, 2, out of his pajamas while Silas Shaulis, 3, colors behind her on the counter on September 22, 2021.
Danita McLaughlin watches as Silas and Mangus Shaulis look for hickory seeds with their dog Chief outside of her daughter Melanie's home in Albany, Ohio, on Sept. 23, 2021. The boys love to play outside and it's often a challenge for Danita to keep any clothes they wear clean for more than a few minutes. "Noise, wheels and mud are their favorite things," she said.
Chris McLaughlin takes Mangus and Silas Shaulis down to visit his cows on Sept. 21, 2021. On Thursdays and Fridays, Chris and Danita’s two older grandchildren get off the school bus at their home before their dad comes to pick them up.
Silas Shaulis pouts after Danita McLaughlin told him he needed to put his shirt back on and that it was too cold for him to go swimming in their inflatable pool on Sept. 22, 2021.
Danita McLaughlin talks to Silas Shaulis as Mangus Shaulis plays with his bike and their dog Chief looks on. The boys will race around the yard on their bikes and small four wheelers with Danita attempting to keep them from the mud and being there with a kind word and a hug if one should fall down.
Danita McLaughlin watches as Mangus Shaulis plays in the toy room downstairs while his brother, Silas, watches videos on his tablet on Sept. 24, 2021. "I'm sometimes dead after I leave here," she said
Danita McLaughlin helps Mangus Shaulis, called "Gus" by the family, out of his crib on Sept. 23, 2021. Silas Shaulis ran down the hall and joined them once he heard Mangus start to wake up. Danita normally has a few minutes in the morning to watch the morning news and make bracelets out of beads before the boys are awake and it's time for breakfast.
Danita McLaughlin, Kennedy Smith, 7, and Mangus Shaulis look out the garage door to see if Kennedy's father has arrived to pick up her and her brother Kain on Sept. 23, 2021. When they were little, Danita used to watch Kennedy and Kain during the day while her older daughter Miranda Smith and her son-in-law Josh Smith worked. Now, Kennedy and her brother get off the bus at their Aunt Melanie's house three days a week and join Mangus and Silas in being watched by Danita before one of their parents picks them up.
Silas and Mangus Shaulis watch as Danita McLaughlin heads back to her house after a day of looking after them on Sept. 23, 2021. Chris had said, while he knows they'd figure something out, he's not sure what his two daughters would have done if Danita wasn't there every day to watch the children while they worked.
Danita and Chris McLaughlin watch TV in the evening after Danita got home from a day of watching Mangus and Silas Shaulis. For Danita, even though she never imagined spending the years since she retired as a babysitter, she can't imagine doing anything differently. When her daughter Miranda had said she would look for a sitter for Kennedy when she was little, Danita said it was like "a stab in the heart." "Why are you going to have someone else watch my baby?" she said. "So I've been doing it ever since then."