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Are you serious? A law against sleeping in a bed with your 7 year old child?
I would think maybe by 7 it is inconvenient for the parents. Our sleeping arrangements are a mess right now as both kids (1 And 3) want to sleep with us also. The owner of my hair salon recently just stopped co sleeping with her 14 yr old daughter...it can go on and on if you let it apparently.
Even if it were to become an issue in a custody dispute, all that needs to be proven (generally) is that the boy has a place of his own to sleep in should he want to. Does he have a bed of his own with mattress and clean sheets, preferably in a separate bedroom? Great. Where he chooses to spend the night (with the permission of his parent) is no one's business. But should CPS be called to the house for any reason, they will check to see if he has a bed or other proper sleeping place.
Given the divorce situation, your grandson's snuggling behavior is totally reasonable. I've had people tell me that after their dad left, they also snuggled up with their mom--even age 11--because the loss was so hard. He's lost his role model and stability. His home is now two split in two. He probably feels that he lost his dad to others, and he's afraid of losing his mother too. He's hurting, maybe even afraid. He needs to know that she's still there for him.
My recommendation would be for her to have a bed in her room that's separate from her own, so that he can join her in her room, but has to be "in his own bed." I know someone who has this setup for her daughter simply because she doesn't have enough bedrooms for her daughter to have her own and doesn't want to put her daughter in with her sons (lives in a high cost of living area with below market rent--can't move to a larger house without moving 30 miles away). It's more common than you might think.
I used to sleep with my mum whenever my dad was away up until I was 14 - I think she was more reluctant to stop than I was but I was the baby of the family so I guess she was holding on to that.
First off absent extenuating circumstances, the child should be spending roughly half his time with his father, not just a weekend here and there. Secondly, 7 is not too old to sleep with a parent. My son wanted to sleep with me every night at that age but instead I allowed him one night a week to do "daddy sleepover night". Made it a little more special for him. As long as he has his own bed to sleep in when he wants to I don't see a problem although maybe he should sleep with his mom sporadically instead of every night. Certainly not a legal issue.
Does Mom and/or grandson sleep in the nude? Does Mom and grandson take showers or baths together (again in the nude)?
Neither of those are necessarily sexual abuse flags. Parents can - and do - do such things with their children all the time. I myself do and my son is 3 and my daughter 7. And I will likely continue to do both of these things until such time as either one of them request otherwise.
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