Ask Amy: Prospective grandmother can’t celebrate baby
Baby showers are intended to create a circle of support for expectant parents, but they are really supposed to be about the baby.
Your old-fashioned standards are putting quite a burden on a baby that didn’t ask to come into this world and hasn’t been born yet.
Imagine the difference for a child that is born into an accepting and welcoming relationship with its grandmother, versus a grandmother that disapproves of and is disappointed by its existence because of the parents’ marital status.
It is understandable and natural not to be thrilled by an unexpected pregnancy to unmarried parents who haven’t been together for very long.
But the time to start the process of learning to love this baby is now.
Dear Amy: I am a 37-year-old wife and mother of two children. I have had rheumatoid arthritis for eight years.
I have a handicap placard for my vehicle, which I try to use only on those days that my rheumatoid arthritis makes it difficult to walk a distance in the parking lot of the businesses I visit.
On several occasions, older people have seen my family and me getting out of the car and have made rude comments suggesting that none of us is handicapped and so I should not be parking in the space.
I had one person even ask me if I had a handicapped child in the back of my Suburban that would allow me to park in handicap parking!
How do I respond to these hurtful, frustrating comments in a kind way, or should I just leave it alone?
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