"My partner and I are both in our fifties. I was divorced and never had kids, while my partner was a single mom of three for most of her life. It has been an adjustment coming to live together and learning to navigate each other's space. The one place I am not willing to compromise is the privacy of our bedroom. It is an adult space for adults, but her grandchildren have zero respect for that fact, and the situation is getting very uncomfortable."
"They barge in without knocking, will climb into our clean sheets with their dirty shoes or dump their crumbs, and worse, demand to sleep with Grandma rather than stay in their own beds. We already put bunk beds in one room so all four grandchildren have a bed of their own when they visit (we have them most weekends). It is a constant clash with my partner because she will agree with me and turn around to allow her grandchildren in."
"I said I had already made more than enough compromises with letting her kids dump their kids on us nearly every weekend. Having actual privacy and personal space in our bedroom is my line in the sand. We are still fighting about this. I don't think I am being unreasonable about this. I love her, but I need my rest."
Two fifty-something partners are adjusting to cohabitation, with one partner having been a single mother. The partner's four grandchildren visit most weekends and habitually invade the bedroom without knocking, track dirt into clean sheets, and insist on sleeping with Grandma. Bunk beds were installed to provide beds for the grandchildren, but the grandmother still allows them into the bedroom, creating recurring conflict. The narrating partner works during the week and is chronically sleep-deprived from weekend disruptions, finding children aged 6 to 11 too old for such behavior. The narrating partner insists on bedroom privacy as a nonnegotiable boundary, and tensions persist.
Read at Slate Magazine
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