DEAR SOMEONE ELSE’S MOM: Our daughter went through a messy divorce nearly two years ago now. She just started dating again, and my husband and I worry about how she’ll manage a dating life with her two young children in the house. We know our daughter is level-headed and not the kind of young woman to sleep around, but I can’t imagine how you can even start a serious relationship while the kids are always in the house.
What we have talked about is offering to take the kids every other weekend, like her ex would be doing, but he moved out of state and only sees our grandchildren for a couple of weeks in the summer and on alternating holidays.
Do you think we would be overstepping our boundaries by making the offer, or would it be kind of weird? --- DON’T WANT TO BUTT IN
DEAR DON’T WANT TO BUTT IN: I don’t consider it at all strange for parents to step in and help a single mother get her social life back on track.
Even if she doesn’t use her weekends off to date, I would imagine she might greatly appreciate a bit of a break.
Speak to your daughter. You may find she’ll jump at the offer, or that she may counter it with a request for help of another kind that you may not be aware of her needing. Even if her response is a “thanks, but no thanks,” you’ll have planted the seed and given her a solid offer of support.