Kiddo is 18 months. I live in one west coast state; my divorced parents live in a different west coast state. There's a pandemic, obviously, so we haven't been able to access our nanny. My husband and I both work from home already, but the thing that's different about the pandemic is we have very little help with childcare.Right now our strategy for childcare has been to "shelter in place with another family." We are essentially "monogamous" with my best friend and her family. She is a SAHM, her kiddo is about the same age as my kid, and she happens to live down the street. We decided her family would only see us; we would only see them. She has graciously provided care for our daughter a couple of days a week since the pandemic started (yes, we pay her). However, she has been honest with me that this is not a sustainable situation. She says having two 1.5 year olds in her house is "like having two literal monkeys running around in your living room." She's burning out. She wasn't built to do this. I completely get it.I am having my own struggles with motherhood even when you put the pandemic aside. We were ready to have a kid on paper but I had my doubts. My husband really wanted to, we waited a long time, and eventually I said fine, I'll take my IUD out and see what happens. We were pregnant a couple of weeks later. To sum up how I feel about motherhood: I love her, but I don't think I love being a mom.So then there is my dad. He's 1500 miles away, owns his own home, is very healthy, but is in his 70s. He loves his granddaughter (our kid is his only grandkid) and wants to FaceTime with her basically every minute. He is bored and doing projects around the house while social distancing. His long-term girlfriend and him are on the outs because she isn't taking the pandemic seriously enough. He is lonely. He has tons of free time.I wanted to clean one of our bathrooms yesterday (a very mundane task I would normally never look forward to) but I couldn't do it because I had 300 meetings on video and then the MINUTE I was done at work, the baby got dropped off by my lovely friend who was watching her. I have literally no time to myself.So I can't help but wonder -- my husband and I are completely drowning from the lack of childcare. My dad is in another state, constantly bored, and wishing he could see his granddaughter. Why shouldn't I even out the workload and have him move in with us for a couple of months?There would be downsides, for sure. I normally would never want my dad to live with us. I don't want him to see some of our less-than-great habits, and it would be a total invasion of privacy. Yes, we have an extra room, but that's typically where I sleep when my husband starts snoring. I'd have to give up my safe haven. But isn't that what you do for family?There's all the logistical problems of moving him up here safely. I haven't even asked him if he wants to. I just wanted to do a brain dump here to see what other parents of young kids think.Thoughts? via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2VY4v11
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