u/Benevolent-Queen

I am NOT the parent but a trusted caretaker. I'll try to keep this brief.

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I have a friend who decided to have a child through a sperm donor as a single parent and subsequently had a healthy little boy 3 years ago. I was happy for her and offered to help out as often as I could.

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This friend had and has an extremely active social life. She travels abroad and domestically a LOT, loves going to tons of concerts and generally accepts any social invitation that is extended to her in any location, be it a wedding, birthday party, graduation, etc. She also travels for work on weekends a couple times a month in addition to her full-time job during the week.

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You're probably wondering how she does all of this with a 3 y/o, and that's why I'm writing this. 1) she sometimes takes him with her on trips. He's probably been to at least 15 countries all over the world and who knows how many states. 2) She has her sister or elderly parents come watch him while she's out of town. They live in a different state and have to fly here to watch him. 3) She leaves him with a friend like me or a paid babysitter in the evenings. From what I gather, this probably happens at least 3 times a week. If she has to leave early in the morning, she sometimes has a friend stay over and wake him up and get him ready for preschool in the morning.

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He's a sweet kid and seems to be developing just fine. I also know a thing or 2 about threenagers, and he definitely tests boundaries regularly but doesn't appear to have any significant behavioral issues other than acting up when he sees that he's going to be left with a sitter. But that might be normal.

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My question is, will this degree of changing caretakers create problems for him somewhere down the line? It truly seems excessive to me, but again, I am not a parent or a psychologist. Would love to hear professional opinions as well as anecdotal experiences. Thank you!