I have a "friend" (had a falling out but she wants to work through it and be friends again, which I am open to), that always asks myself and my mother to babysit. That's fine, I don't mind her asking, but the thing I have a problem with is the way she asks. Rather than just straight up saying "hey, could you babysit for me?" She always asks if you have plans instead, which in my opinion is manipulative and a trick question. If you didn't realize that she was going to ask you to babysit 99.9% of the time she asks that, you might assume she is asking to get together or just be friendly and see what you have going on, so you might say you have no plans, in which case then she'd ask you and then you'd look like an asshole for not wanting to watch her kid if you said you had no plans.

What's a nice way to tell her to just straight up ask? I will admit that even though we were close, I didn't really ever babysit for her then either just because I live half an hour a way and she's entitled and would expect me to come get and drop off the baby, but still, I don't want to just provide random free childcare all the time. I'm pregnant and have my own things to do.