Dear You

Yes, you. Do you think it's easy for your grown children to rely upon you for so much? Do you really think we - and I mean all four of us - don't wish there were another way to do things? From my standpoint, coming in from the outside a decade-ish ago, you set your kids up for this from the beginning. Really, it's the most selfish thing you could have done to them. But at least they'll never leave you, right? They can't, right? They need you too much. They need you to baby sit eight hours a day, five days a week because goodness knows, they couldn't get a job that'd pay enough for the daycare they'd need with their bachelors in psychology and a history minor. They need you to loan them money every now and then because, that's right . . . everyone learns to deal with things like credit cards and mortgages and car loans right out of high school.

One would think you'd want your kids to succeed. I know I would, if I were in your shoes - I want the very best for my children, whether it's next door to me, in another state or in another country. One would think you'd not try to alienate the woman who married your son to the point of considering divorce at least once a year. I love my husband, and I consider myself a strong woman. But really . . . how much am I supposed to take? Did you consider how much it might hurt people you didn't even know yet when you started along this path? Because it's not just your children you're hurting. It's their spouses, and your grandchildren.

Yeah, I could go get a job. I could put my kids in daycare that'd cost nearly as much as I'd make, and I could spend the rest of my meagre paycheck on a work wardrobe - or maybe I could figure out how to make business casual grow on trees.

So yeah, You, thanks for all you've done for us. Thank you for making your grown children into dependents. They love you for it, really.