How did you cope raising kids without family nearby?

[lking679]

Wondering if any other mums live hundreds of miles away from their maternal family and if you found it lonely with your kids... or what did you do that made it better? DC1 is 3 and DC2 is 10 months. Have mum friends which seems to work out in the week but then our weekends stretch out ahead of us and mum friends tend to be around their own extended families and not available! DH here obviously but otherwise 🤷🏻‍♀️. Not sure if things will get busier when DC1 starts school next September!

@Mushtullo

Tbh, one of the things that surprises me on Mn is the general assumption that it’s the norm to live close to your parents — virtually no one I know even lives in the same country as their parents in adulthood. The world’s a big place.

I think more common up north Down here in south east and London - majority of people do not live anywhere close to their families

I live in the south east and mum friends i know all have family nearby, maybe it’s where I live! Or they’ve all grown up nearby or went to Uni down south and have a wide network of friends established around London.
Funnily enough my flexible working request came back approved today so makes relocation possible. It’s quite a lot of disruption for DC1 though and if we decide to come back we would have screwed her primary school place up which would be a shame as primary school is opposite us and literally outstanding. But sort of feels like stars have aligned to allow us to try moving nearer to family. Extra bonus would be a slightly bigger house too which would be nice.
We’ll see what ends up happening!
Thanks for replying all, I think the worst ones are when family nearby but have no interest. DH’s sister quite close and our kids get on well but she can’t be bothered which is a shame!

The question seemed abit alien to me. I have not been near or had family support. Popping round for dinner etc I done it on my own as a single parent without a partner at all. But then I think I have normalised it. So I guess my normal is not someone else's normal .

Op are you in the position to move closer to your parents it seems that you miss there company.

Yes thinking about moving as my sister and brother there too. But renting out our current house in case it doesn’t work out. The issue is my DC1 starting school September 2022 and I am not sure we’d move in time for applications and then we might end up coming back. Lots of disruption and relying on some in year transfer luck for her and that makes me worry.
It’s hard as I’ve been down here for 14 years and in my house for 7, all seems fine until a lonely weekend stretches ahead of us!
If I see a nice house it’ll be tempting to go but think I’ll see how I feel!