Why Bother?

It was BM's weekend with my stepson and of course, she worked 12 hours on Saturday and 12 hours today. She works Saturday and Sunday on every weekend she has her visitation with him. She magically doesn't work on the weekends she doesn't have him. Makes sense.

She pawns him off to anyone who will watch him. Here is the hierarchy:

• When she was married for 7 months, it was her husband.
  

• When she is dating someone, it's the guy. Even if they have only been dating for 1 month, she will ask the guy to watch him.
  

• When she has no sucker, ummm, I mean boyfriend, it starts with her parents. If they can't/won't watch him, then it defaults to one of her sisters (they are all wonderful examples to my stepson of unmarried women on welfare with children who move in with their parents every other year when their boyfriends kick them to the curb--including BM). If direct relatives can't watch him, it goes to her aunts and uncles.

• When all else fails, she will ask us to take him.

It's unbelievable how many strangers and distant relatives (or people she calls relatives...like a new boyfriend's sister) have watched my stepson.

My husband and I worry about child molesters and weirdos around him, since we have NO idea who the majority of these people are who watch him. We continually stress to him about telling us if someone does something inappropriate or says something to him.

I can't even begin to think about how many different men he has seen with her, as a "friend" or boyfriend, in the past 7 years. And how many times she has told him about someone being his "new dad" or the "new brother" he will have.

It's actually pretty scary to think about. But, of course, the court system doesn't care. As long as he has a bed or something that acts like a bed in her care, then they don't even flinch.