"I gave birth to a baby girl a few weeks ago, and my mom has been coming to help every week for a full day. She's wonderful with my newborn: she changes diapers like a pro, she is great at getting her to stop crying, and she is respectful of rules that were different from when she had her kids (like the fact that babies are supposed to sleep on their backs, without blankets and stuffed animals in the crib)."
"Every time Grandma arrives, she's towing a box of stuff from my childhood. When we arrived home from the hospital, there were toys from when I was a toddler. Last week, it was art from the 4th grade. This week, it was photo albums from when I was a baby, and a bunch of my baby blankets. When I suggested gently that the baby books would be better off staying at her house, she said she'd think about it."
A new mother receives weekly full-day help from her own mother, who is skilled with newborn care and follows modern safety practices. The grandmother repeatedly brings boxes of the mother's childhood belongings—old toys, grade-school art, photo albums, and baby blankets—because she worries the items will otherwise be forgotten. The grandmother sometimes removes the baby during attempts to set limits, leaving the daughter unable to argue. The daughter lives in a small home with very limited storage, cannot keep all the items, and wants to maintain a good relationship while managing possessions and space.
Read at Slate Magazine
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]