A good friend of mine dropped a bombshell piece of information on me today that made me cry and my heart ache for a long time.
She and her husband are expecting a baby soon and have decided to send the baby to live with the grandparents and aunt Monday through Thursday night and bring the baby home on Friday, to be returned on Sunday. They want to try this arrangement out for a year and see how it works. The reason: concern about being able to wake up for work the next day.
I am trying so hard not to be judgemental about this, but I am pretty upset about their decision. Leaving a child at daycare, not being able to see your baby for 8-10 hours a day is excruciating for the parents and not easy on the baby either! To give up parenting on weekdays is generally the result of losing a custody battle for a separated couple, so to hear that a happily married couple willingly agree to weekend parenting is very painful to swallow.
No denying that having family around to help care for a baby is great. I just hope that my friend and her husband realize they will actually want to care for the child for more than 2 nights a week after the baby is born.
She and her husband are expecting a baby soon and have decided to send the baby to live with the grandparents and aunt Monday through Thursday night and bring the baby home on Friday, to be returned on Sunday. They want to try this arrangement out for a year and see how it works. The reason: concern about being able to wake up for work the next day.
I am trying so hard not to be judgemental about this, but I am pretty upset about their decision. Leaving a child at daycare, not being able to see your baby for 8-10 hours a day is excruciating for the parents and not easy on the baby either! To give up parenting on weekdays is generally the result of losing a custody battle for a separated couple, so to hear that a happily married couple willingly agree to weekend parenting is very painful to swallow.
No denying that having family around to help care for a baby is great. I just hope that my friend and her husband realize they will actually want to care for the child for more than 2 nights a week after the baby is born.
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