BF picking DD up from school.

[TheSirenCalledToMe]

Firstly, I'm new here so Hi :)

My daughter is 4 and just started school. My boyfriend and I haven't been together long, 3 months or so but we knew each other for a long time before we got together, we were childhood friends. Anyway, after DD's dad left me we reconnected and DD got to know him as mummys friend when we went to parties and stuff (we have a lot of friends in common). I have applied for a new job and the hours mean I may or may not be able to drop DD or pick her up from school sometimes. My mum has offered and it would be lovely if she could but she is on the other side of town so will cost her in fuel. BF has offered to help out by picking her up if the after school club doesn't run later than my work hours. What I'm wondering is, is it too soon for him to feel responsible like this? I would never have asked him but as he's offered and he doesn't have to travel far as we live a stones throw from each other. There is still the issue that sometimes he will be in work but my mum said she wouldn't mind anyway. (DD'sDad will NOT do it and frankly I don't want him to but that's a whole other thread)

what do people here think? Too soon or..?

Thanks :)

[Spelt]

I think it's a bit rude to swear at someone who has given you polite advice that you have asked for.

[Sparklysilversequins]

"Kids are pretty resilient and don't think as deeply as we do, unless we force them to".

Not as kids maybe but certainly with hindsight when they get older and think we an adults perspective of what their childhood was like. Things that were fine for me as a child certainly don't feel fine when I look back now.

OP I wouldn't, mainly because its too soon but I also think it looks pretty bad and could possible make you a target for gossip.

[GuybrushThreepwoodMP]

Wow. Really aggressive response to a polite suggestion of asking yourself some questions and defining some boundaries which is reasonable advice in anyone's book. Advice which you asked for.
Not sure what the this 'dafuck' business is but don't ask for advice and opinions if you aren't willing to listen. I have no problem with anyone rejecting advice I give- advice is there to help you form your own opinion- but don't be fucking rude to people who are trying to help.

If you want to be told what you want to hear, maybe try Netmums?

[BooHissy]

Oh sure, but as I said, i'm not saying anything is suggesting this at all, but being a 'big kid' does not mean anything when it comes to safeguarding our children.

Men do befriend mother's to gain access and it has to be in our minds, regardless who that person is.

We have a responsibility to think, and not put people in situations they may not be suited to/for.

Our children have to come first, and not be stuffed into our relationship too early. It's not fair on anyone.

[HairyGrotter]

Erm, look at all the dysfunctional biological parent evidence too...well, that escalated quickly

[BooHissy]

Not that i'm saying anything, but look at all the stories of dysfunctional step dads/parents partners... always those that groom are called 'big kid'

If they were gruff adults, they'd not get near their targets.

[BooHissy]

You have backtracked enormously, compare your OP with subsequent posts.

Your op read as an ongoing arrangement.

You are being lazy and irresponsible wrt your role as a parent.

You work, you sustain your home, your child, your childcare responsibility.

When you have established a serious relationship with a future, then go for it, but if this doesn't work out, the arrangement in your OP smacks of shunting your DD off to the boyfriend, cos you cba to source professional child care like the rest of us have to.

In a year or so, you can revisit, but you're giving a man you don't know romantically well full and clear access to the most precious person in your life, and while i'm not saying he's bad or good or dangerous or safe, he's a NEW Boyf, and you need to establish that relationship in isolation to that with your daughter.

Don't fall into easy and comfortable arrangements, they can kill off a relationship and compromise your independence/reasoning when it comes to what's best for you and your family.

You end up relying on this guy, and if he doesn't make the grade, you are in massive danger of allowing it to go on when it could be harming you and your little girl.

Back it all off a bit, do things properly.

[TheSirenCalledToMe]

It'd be like an adventure for her. She always did like him, he's a big kid himself and she knows one flutter of her ginger eyelashes and the milky bars are on him. She knows a lot of my friends as a close nip community we're always round each others houses but BF (before he was BF) she got along with differently to the others.

[BelleDameSansMerci]

For goodness sake! It's an occasional pick-up from school/school club by someone the OP has known since she was a child.

You trust him and he has offered. If your DD is happy with it why not?

[elastamum]

She has an opinion on most things!

[TheSirenCalledToMe]

Does your cleaner make parental decisions regarding school matters? :)

[elastamum]

Sometimes as a LP you just have to do what you can to keep the wheels on the bus. Only you know what is right for your DC.

My DC have over the years been picked up by me or when I am at work by various au pairs, my cleaner, their dad (more often now than previously as he now lives nearby), my friend, my BF, his eldest son!

They dont appear to have been unduly scarred by all this.

[TheSirenCalledToMe]

Lesson learned.

[Vivacia]

I was being disingenuous.

[TheSirenCalledToMe]

Slang term for "what the fuck"

[Vivacia]

Who is Dafuq?

[TheSirenCalledToMe]

Some parents get very involved in what we're calling school culture. Becoming close friends with other parents in particular, organising play dates with children your dd makes friends with, perhaps talking to teachers. I don't. Only time I speak with teachers is if she needs some sort of kit the next day IE Forest school.

Would he start going to parents meetings with you or responding to letters sent home about school matters? No he's collecting her from school not becoming a father.

Would this mean he is entitled to an opinion about such things as if he is an equal parent? As above. He isn't her parent, he's literally picking her up.

I would want to define some very clear boundaries and ensure that I also do the school run plenty too so that I don't end up actually left it of these things. I did say sometimes, it's a part time job. Possibly not even in the week that's why I've said IF.

[TheSirenCalledToMe]

Wow. I was only asking if it'd be ok for him to pick her up from school once or twice. Not become a replacement father... It's not a childcare arrangement, it's a favour.

"Also, school culture? Dafuq? I've not spoke to anyone other than the teacher at DD's school, fuck the culture, it's school, for them, the kids..."

Thank you! I talk to parents, but we don't plait each others hair and haven't synced periods that I know of... One of the parents I speak to is on the same football team as BF xD

[Lweji]

Not all polarised. :)

I'd say it's ok, but not as a permanent fixture, rather starting slowly and see how it goes.

[Vivacia]

Also, a childcare arrangement will put pressures on the relationship and make it harder to disentangle yourselves should either want to.

[Vivacia]

I second boohissy's advice. Keep him as a boyfriend before you take him on as a father to your child.

I don't think I'd let him be such a big part of my daughter's life at only 3 months. More somebody to meet in the park for an ice cream than someone to sit on the sofa with.

[Hellokitten]

I've only been with my boyfriend of a few weeks but have known him for 12 years. We were friends in high school. I let him take my son off for an adventure while I went shopping for his birthday present a couple of weeks ago. And myself and the kids just started staying over with him at his flat. I'd have no issues letting him do the school run sometimes. Probably not all the time, but maybe once or twice a week? Just so I didn't feel like I was taking advantage of him.
I'm pretty sure that if we broke up we would remain friends so I don't mind the closeness, as my kids are close to all my friends.

[GuybrushThreepwoodMP]

Doesn't make their relationship at the same stage as yours though.

[Jaynebxl]

Fairly polarised views then. Hope we've helped OP!

This ^

[HairyGrotter]

OP has known this guy since childhood...I think it's fair to say she knows him more than, say, a bloke she met and just started dating 12 weeks ago.