Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
Another factor at work in making parenting stressful today is the lack of support from extended family, friends, and neighbours. Parents today often live away from their own parents and siblings, and don't have close friends nearby or neighbours they can rely on.
We're fortunate that both sets of parents live in town, and we have a network of close, longtime friends with kids the same age. Without those supports to help with child care, do activities with, etc. being a parent would be a lot tougher.
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This.
We moved to Florida specifically to be near my wife's family, and there are a lot of them here.
I can't tell you how valuable it is when you're losing your mind to be able to drive 15-20 minutes, hand off the kids and just say, "here, take them for a few hours. We need a mental health break."
We even have the ability to leave them with the grandparents for about a week a couple times a year and have a purely adult vacation. It makes a HUGE difference in the quality of our lives, and it helps us to recharge our parenting batteries when they're running low.
My children are a LOT of work, but they give me more joy than just about anything else in this world. I'm fascinated by how they see things and the way they develop. I honestly am excited to watch them go through life and see what comes their way. It's like the best movie I've ever seen.
Oh wait, there was a movie like that. It was called Boyhood.
