Kids don’t want to do anything with me! Feeling guilty doing things alone

[Anonymous]

Your kids don’t exist to entertain you. My mom was a teacher and didn’t plan field trips for me in the summer. She read books, met friends for lunch, went golfing, took continuing education classes related to her teaching area, prepped her classroom for the following year, and generally had her own life. We went on vacation for a week and did family activities in the evening or on the weekend the same as during the school year.

I think we had a healthy relationship and she didn’t have an identity crisis when I left for college because she had her own friends and hobbies.