Clothes at the weekend

[emilyeggs]

I've just been looking on another thread about clothes and is it right for the mum to have to pack a bag eow (a resounding no and flaming of xDH). We have tried a few different options. I suggested we have clothes hear (we always have toiletries, pants, coats) but thing inevitably go back to mums and with the weather being unpredictable and growing to fast to use them only twice a month it's just not worth it. Dh gets skids Friday straight from school so they come in there uniform and bag of clothes. I try to send uniforms back washed and anything else I can.....just wondering what your set up is

With l due respect (ie I know this is rude but can't think of any other way to say it), I'm quite taken aback at a poster who comes onto the stepparenting board and express sadness for DCs with separated parents!

Bit like going on the lone parents board and saying how much nicer life is witha partner, or the relationships board saying how great it is to be single?

We're all trying our best as step parents - whether our DSC mum is their primary carer, occasionally has contact or is sadly deceased.

Being from a blended family and having parents that don't live together can be a positive thing though, all of us have had experiences and growth opportunities that we just wouldn't have had if I had stayed in the marriage, and dd, dsd and I are certainly all much, much happier and better off in all ways And just because two parents are still together, it doesn't necessarily mean that everyone is happier than those in a separated or blended family.

My dsd arrives (more often than not) in dirty clothes and unshowered for at least 3 days. I wash her, her clothes, and we have several changes of clothes here for her too. I think it's awful to send her to us so dirty on a Friday night (when we often have plans to go out with her somewhere) and then her mother send us texts on Sunday afternoon telling us to "make sure she's showered and hair washed before she comes back". If we ask the same thing, we get told "the tantrums aren't worth it". Ugh.

It works for us as a little family though, to keep things here so we know she will be clean and well turned out. She's 9 and I think it's important to teach her good self care even if that's not being taught to her at her mums.

Oh and yes I agree. A blended but happy family is way better for the children than an unhappy marriage and parents who live together but resent each other.