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I must be Cleopatra.....

AngeLily's picture

Submitted by AngeLily on Sat, 02/23/2013 - 3:21pm

Because I'm married to the king of denial. I'm on my night shift rotation, we have a baby who is allergic to sleep and are (both) having a lot of stress at work right now, so no one is sleeping well. Generally, I work ss weekends. I came home, baby woke up, dh got up with her so I could get some sleep. Fast forward two and a half hours. I wake up to ss at the foot of my bed talking and playing with the dog.
In my room.
Where I'm sleeping.
Dh and dd fell asleep on the couch in the living room, so of course the LOGICAL place to play in our large house is MY bedroom! I say "I am trying to sleep" he stands there, looks at me for a minute, says "k" and plays with the dog for a few more seconds and then walks out.
baby and dh wake up a little later, dh comes and sees I'm awake and asks why. So I told him.
Dh goes and talks to him about respect. I talk to dh and he says how sorry he (dh) is. I say, he is almost 8 he should know better. Dh says yes, but he is immature. Great, but then goes on to explain away why he is.....

Comments

StickAFork's picture

Submitted by StickAFork on Sat, 02/23/2013 - 3:41pm

So this kid was left alone, on a weekend he should be spending actually engaging with father. Tell your DH it's time to step his ass up and PARENT his kid. PARENTS don't have the luxury of sleeping during the day when there are children to be tended to.
Oh, wait...GOOD parents don't have that luxury.
He's SEVEN. He shouldn't be left alone because the adults are tired.
SMH.

Lalena75's picture

Submitted by Lalena75 on Sat, 02/23/2013 - 4:02pm

Exhausted and working doubles I often would nap on the couch with my ds while my dd who was 6 watched a movie. At 6 she could make her own breakfast (we set it up so she just had to pour milk from a cup into her bowl) she could put in a movie, start, stop, pause and switch movies all on her own. She would wake me up if she needed, and we were in the same room. Course I could of just stayed exhausted till I passed out behind the wheel killing myself, and my kids, or someone else. Which makes me the worse parent?

AngeLily's picture

Submitted by AngeLily on Sat, 02/23/2013 - 4:11pm

So someone should be sitting in his room while he's playing with toys "just in case" he might go do something a five year old can understand not to do? While I admit, dh lacks with consistency in enforcement and does not think this child is as disrespectful as he is, should he be in the bathroom while the child bathes or poops too?

StickAFork's picture

Submitted by StickAFork on Sat, 02/23/2013 - 4:14pm

I don't think we should have kids if we aren't willing/capable of caring for them.

Should there be an adult glued to their hip while they play and hover? No. Should someone at least be CONSCIOUS while there's small children around?
Yeah. I think so. It's called parenting.

Your DH needs to step his ass up, if you're a believer of the "not my kid, not my problem" mantra preached on here. Simple. You should be mad at the KID for trying to entertain himself when the ADULTS in the house are too busy...sleeping.

PeanutandSons's picture

Submitted by PeanutandSons on Sat, 02/23/2013 - 4:21pm

I wouldn't concider 7 almost 8 a "small child". A child of that age should be fully capable of occupying themselves for an hour. A lot of kids are left home alone within a year or two of this child's age. My mom started leaving me home alone for an hour or two when I was 9.

This kid had two parents in the home, I don't see anything wrong with grabbing a nap...and the kid should know not to play on the bed of someone sleeping. My three yr old has more sense than that.

StickAFork's picture

Submitted by StickAFork on Sat, 02/23/2013 - 5:11pm

Where I live, leaving a child home alone at that age will get the cops/CPS on your ass.
I know, because BM used to do that and that was a contributing factor in the loss of custody of SD.

We can disagree. That's cool. I just happen to believe that unsupervised children WILL find a way to occupy themselves. The OP's SS did just that. Of course, we leave them unsupervised and then get pissed about how they occupy themselves, so one has to wonder...

AngeLily's picture

Submitted by AngeLily on Sat, 02/23/2013 - 4:26pm

Yes, his responsibility to take care of the kids while I'm sleeping. Soothing our daughter to sleep because she's sick, while an other child is playing in his room and accidentally falling asleep with her is a sure sign of a rotten parent. Guess he needs a shock collar in case he nods off next time.

AngeLily's picture

Submitted by AngeLily on Sat, 02/23/2013 - 6:09pm

Have to wonder what? If there are serious parenting issues. Yup. If the child has other problems? Yup. I don't claim dh is perfect in regards to yss. Nor do I claim to be a great mom. I'm here to learn, vent and help myself to not feel like a total bitch regarding this child. I've made mistakes in life. If I had all the solutions I wouldn't be here. I would never leave this child home alone, but to believe he can't be unsupervised at all in another room, is even beneath the credit I gave him.