u/Dramatic_Stand7926

I know this probably sounds silly, but I’m really struggling with the fact that my son will be starting Pre-K in August.

He’s 2  now and will be almost 3 when school starts, and honestly, I’m just not ready. It feels like yesterday he was a tiny baby, and now we’re already talking about school, backpacks, teachers, and drop-offs.

Everyone keeps telling me how exciting it is, and I know it will probably be good for him. He’ll get to learn, make friends, and have new experiences. But as his mom, all I can think about is how fast the time has gone.

I feel like I blinked and somehow ended up here. Part of me is proud of how much he’s grown, and another part of me wants time to slow down just a little bit longer.

Has anyone else felt this way when their child started Pre-K? How did you handle it?

I guess I should say my son is 2 years old
I’m really struggling with this and could use some outside opinions.

I have several young children, and they absolutely love my mom and my younger siblings. The problem is that I don’t feel like the love and effort are being returned the same way.

My mom lives right down the road from me, so it’s not like distance is an issue. Even with her living so close, I feel like my kids are only wanted when it’s convenient.

My mom will sometimes ask to keep my kids overnight or tell them they can spend the night, but almost every time they end up coming home before the night is over. The explanation is usually that one of my kids was crying for me and wanted to come home. The thing is, that same child spends the night with another family member without any problems, so I’m having a hard time believing that’s always the real reason.

Lately I’ve started noticing other things that make me uncomfortable. I’ve found out that when my kids are at my mom’s house, she often has my younger siblings watch them instead of watching them herself. I also recently found out that my oldest son was outside on the trampoline by himself. Maybe some people won’t think that’s a big deal, but it bothered me because I expect my children to be supervised by an adult when they’re spending time with their grandma.

At this point, it feels like my kids are welcome until they’re actually there, and then people are ready to send them back home or pass them off to someone else. My children get excited to see their grandma and family, and it breaks my heart watching them love people who don’t seem nearly as interested in spending time with them.

I don’t know if I’m being overly sensitive because these are my children, or if I’m seeing things clearly. I don’t expect anyone to babysit my kids if they don’t want to. What hurts is that my kids get their hopes up over and over, only to be sent home early or treated like a burden.

The harder part is that this is basically all the family I have left. My relationship with my dad is already strained because of things that happened after my son came home from the NICU, so if I distance myself from my mom and sister too, there won’t be much family left. It would also mean losing a lot of contact with my younger siblings, whom my kids adore.

I don’t want to cut people off unnecessarily, but I also don’t want my kids growing up constantly chasing relationships with people who don’t make them a priority.

Has anyone been through something similar? At what point do you decide that keeping family around is doing more harm than good? Would I be wrong for going low contact or no contact, even if it means my kids lose access to some family members they love?

My sister (19F) graduated recently, and I wasn’t invited to the graduation at all.

The day of the graduation, she called me asking if I had some specific hair ties/rubber bands she wanted. I was trying to explain that I didn’t have the kind she was looking for, and my kids were being loud in the background. While we were talking, I told my kids to quiet down. My sister asked if I was home, and I told her no. She then asked if I would be home later, and I said I didn’t know because I had a lot going on that day.

That’s when she said, “Oh, you were supposed to watch your little brother.”

I was completely confused because nobody had asked me to watch him. I told her exactly that: no one had asked me. She got an attitude with me, and the conversation ended shortly after.

I already had plans that day. I was on my way to take my kids to a foam party that lasted until 2 p.m., and we had other plans afterward. If someone had asked me ahead of time, I could have at least tried to work something out, but I wasn’t given any notice at all.

My sister had promised graduation tickets to several people, including our mom, her dad, our granny and grandpa, our other grandma, and our cousin (24M).

Later, my granny called and asked if I was going to the graduation. I told her I wasn’t invited. She then asked if I was going to the after-party at my mom’s house. My mom lives only three houses down from me, and I didn’t even know there was an after-party. The only celebration I knew about was a hog roast at my uncle’s house that I had been invited to the day before.

My granny was really upset when she found out I hadn’t been invited to either the graduation or the after-party. I told her it didn’t really surprise me because this kind of thing happens a lot.

During that conversation, I also found out something I hadn’t known. Apparently, because I wasn’t watching my little brother, my cousin no longer had a graduation ticket. Nobody had told me that beforehand. Later, because my granny and grandpa were so upset that I had been excluded, they decided not to attend the graduation. Their tickets ended up going to my cousin, so he was able to go after all.

What bothered me most wasn’t even being left out. It was that they apparently made plans for my little brother to stay with me without ever asking me if I was available. They were also taking my little sister (14F) with them, which made me feel bad for my little brother because it seemed like he was the one being left behind.

I don’t feel like I did anything wrong because I wasn’t asked, I already had plans, and I didn’t know any of the ticket situation until after the fact. But now I’m wondering if I should have handled it differently.

AITA?