DPs ex lives hundreds of miles away with his 9yo DD and her 89yo mother, I'll call her Gran so we don't get mixed up here.... Gran is almost bedridden and has her own bit of the house which she's to stay in - gran and mother (the ex) don't get along and so gran is not allowed in the main part of the house.
Anyway. DD is left home 'alone', a lot. Her mother goes out a couple of times a week till the early hours. DP always rings DD and has a good chat with her but the last time this happened, she was crying because the weather was bad and the lights were flickering, and she's frightened of the dark. DP was saying it will be ok, if there's a power cut (which there often is, they live in a remote part of the country) she should just ring mum and she'll come home.
Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but cordless telephones don't work when there's a power cut, do they? DP hasn't even thought of this and I daren't mention it. I get my head bitten off if I criticise the way that his ex is bringing up their child. He says she's doing well to bring her up on her own, but I don't think it's right that the little girl is left on her own so much. Some weekends she's on her own all day, she goes into Gran's room sometimes, but she's no one to play with, no brothers or sisters. Her mother has fallen out with all her friend's mothers, so DD isn't allowed to play with so-and-so...
She talks like an old woman, everyone thinks it's cute but I find it really sad, like she's missing her childhood. And on Mothers day, Mother was in bed most of the day with a hangover, and DD had been told not to put the tv on or play her keyboard so as not to wake mother. DD was upset because she'd made a mothers day card and mothers day was nearly over and she hadn't given it to her.
DP is right, I should keep my nose out, but I feel so sorry for his DD, and think his ex needs a kick up the arse....