I have an 11 month old granddaughter. I have never been allowed to look after her, not even for 5 minutes. Never pushed her in a pram, fed her or changed her or taken her anywhere. Only half of my family have even met her. We are a big family and my son's partner has very little family. We dont get to see her very often, maybe once a month or sometimes once a fortnight if we are lucky and they live really close.
I was told off for offering one piece of advice early on, never again. Told off for taking too many pictures of her. I offered my time in the early months to help out but was told they dont need or want any help. I got told off for buying her too much when she was born and at Christmas and made to feel really really uncomfortable about it. Even though they were happy for us to purchase all the nursery equipment and prams etc. I have been made to feel like a monster for wanting to be part of her life. I was even told my expectations of being a grand parent were ridicuous. My only expectation was that we would be part of her life and not exlcuded from almost everything.
We cant just ring and say can we pop over to see them all, we almost have to have an appointment to visit (or thats how it feels anyway). This is fine because we respect that they have their own lives to lead and my son works very hard but if we dont contact them, they dont contact us and we would never see them. The excitement of being a grandparent and all that entails has now become very sad.
There is a lot more to it than this but too much to write. I just want to know whether our experience is normal and if not what can we do about it.
Being quizzed by chemist's assistant in Boots.
Another week, another Tory MP sex scandal!
Does Israel want full scale war in the Middle East?