I’ve Reached My Tipping Point With My Mother-in-Law’s Favoritism

Care and Feeding is Slate’s parenting advice column. —Don’t Want to Travel Dear DWtT, Since your signoff eliminates one obvious way to nudge that relationship along—because no matter what “type of person” the less-loved Grandma is, since your kids don’t know her, they are not going to be anywhere near as comfortable with her as they are with the grandparents they see every week—if Mom and Dad sincerely want there to be a stronger connection between Dad’s mother and the kids, you two might fly Grandma to you several times a year for visits. Slate Plus Members Get More Advice from Michelle Each Week From this week’s letter, I Can’t Believe What Just Went Down in My Kid’s Math Class: “It drives me nuts that teachers call out kids publicly like this.” Dear Care and Feeding, My husband and I have two kids, a 20-month-old girl and a 4-month-old boy. I know that he wouldn’t “slack” with his work while watching the kids; I think he would constantly feel pulled in two directions. If you’re anything like me, you’ll be loath to leave your kids for a whole day multiple times during this period when you’d otherwise be able to be with them, but if that’s what it takes to show your naïve husband what full-time care of two babies and full-time work from home looks like, it’s worth it.