How to resolving a conflict with my family over the care of our toddler?
I have a 22-month-old son and would find many of these issues upsetting as well. Toddlers are hugely affected by even small changes in schedule. It’s not being anal: it’s giving the child what he needs to feel comfortable, a daily routine. Sleep particularly–everyone I know with a child this age is incredibly wedded to a sleep schedule, because if you stray too far everyone pays, especially the poor kid who is thrown off and doesn’t have the ability to understand why (resulting in lots of tantrums, poor sleep, etc.). It seems cruel to give such a young child a hard time about a security blanket that your doctor is on board with (and which, presumably, makes him feel secure). And a Hungry Man dinner for breakfast? In my world, never. That stuff is no good for adults, let alone a small child. I also feel pretty strongly about TV. This doesn’t mean your parents are bad people; I agree with other posters that they grew up in another time when care differed. But I doubt that you can ever n
Meh, care by someone who loves a kid is really, really hard to come by. I say this as someone who lives under the possibility of Grandma running out and baptizing my kid behind my back. In the face of cancer, I really don’t think it matters all that much if a kid is eating bacon for breakfast. It’s pretty much the only time in your life where that doesn’t really matter. The security blanket is harder–maybe fight for that one, but don’t fight for every damn thing and don’t stick the kid in daycare because of this disagreement. If you think you have differences w/Grandma and Grandpa, I imagine the differences with day care workers wouldn’t be any better and would be harder to navigate without the genuine bond your parents feel with your kid. In any relationship, the success depends on how well you articulate your needs and boundaries, so you kind of have to stand up and do that here, but I guess I’m trying to say, do that, but don’t make a big deal out of every single thing. The things
