Reply to Jealous of friends who can go on kid free vacations

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I hear you OP. I am not even sure I’d want to travel without my DC because I think I’d miss them too much. But I do sometimes envy my friends with younger, more healthy parents because of the way they are able to be involved in their kids lives. Including, yes, overnights at grandmas and that kind of thing. I would appreciate the free childcare of course— who wouldn’t? But the bigger thing is the idea of having more people invested in and involved in my child’s life. Especially since we are unable to have another. When I see grandparents doting on, playing with, or just showing real knowledge of their grandkids, it is heartwarming and also gives me a pang. I know my child would love that but it’s just not part of the family we have. It makes me sad.[/quote]

OP here.  I think you hit on an important part of it that I didn’t really articulate.  The free childcare would be lovely but I think it’s the idea of having so many loving, capable family members around that are invested in and can be a real part of my children’s lives.  We love my parents but because of their health we usually see them for short visits, and always with me or my husband there.  My kids will never have the time and space to build a truly deep bond with them, I fear.  Looking at my friend with the eight actively involved grandparents makes me so wish my kids had that.

And yeah, the kid free vacations sound nice too.  But reading suggestions here from others about leaving the kids with nanny or a close friend made me realize I wouldn’t even want to do that.  It’s something specific about that special time with grandparents.  I would so love to be able to go on vacation and know my kids are having a genuinely enriching visit with their grandparents, rather than just having passable childcare.[/quote]

Be grateful your parents still want to see your kids.  What some of us are saying is our parents have zero interest in our kids.  My mom lives 5 minutes away and we didn't see her yesterday and she never would consider inviting us or seeing what we were doing for Thanksgiving.  I'm lucky if she calls on the kids birthdays.  Usually its a week or two late, if at all.

I'd take loving parents who cannot babysit over parents like mine who have no interest but could.[/quote]

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