Having friendly neighbors is wonderful, a reliable neighbor can offer help, keep an eye on your home, or even spend time with your kids. The main character in our story embodies the ideal neighbor, caring for his child and looking after the neighbor’s daughters. The twist, however, is that during this time, the neighbor is enjoying leisure moments with the protagonist’s wife.
How a simple shared interest marked the beginning of a big change in a family.
A young man shared how his wife became close with a single father living next door due to shared interests. At first, the story’s author saw nothing wrong with his spouse and the man quickly finding common ground, as did their children. However, over time, this not only became a threat to their marriage but also created dilemmas regarding how to raise their children.
“My wife and I live in at a suburban house with our 10-year-old daughter, Emily. We have been living here for a little more than 2 years. Our neighbor next door, Walter, is a single father with 2 daughters. My wife really likes watching scary movies, but I have never enjoyed them. Walter likes such movies, so started to make plans to watch movies together.”
According to the story’s author, he was invited to join them, but he declined. Therefore, while watching movies, whether at a theater in another city or at Walter’s house, the man had to watch over both his daughter and the neighbor’s daughters.
Watching movies together quickly turned into actual dates.
At some point, the leisure time of the user’s wife and their neighbor took on a slightly different form: they began going out together for dinner. Walter invited the author’s entire family, including the children, to restaurants, but such establishments were not affordable for the man, so he preferred to look after the children in these cases.
“They eventually started doing stuff outside of watching movies, like going out for dinner. Walter invited all of us, including the kids, to go with him to a restaurant that a friend of him owned but I said no because it was too expensive. I don’t like that kind of places because I feel they are a waste of money and didn’t think the kids would enjoy it either. I insisted on staying with the kids and let the two of them go be themselves. This has became a regular thing and it is a good for me because Walter pays for my wife’s dinner and she can’t no longer complain about me not taking her to fancy restaurants.”
But when watching films together and having dinners became ordinary, the author realized he was tired of being a babysitter for 3 kids.
The neighbor suggested a solution, but the spouses had different opinions.
The author of the story talked with his wife and Walter. The neighbor indicated that he doesn’t like leaving his daughters with babysitters and would feel more comfortable if an experienced father looked after his children instead of a high school student.
“Walter offered to start paying me for going out with my wife. He offered a standard babysitter fee. I thought it was a reasonable approach, but my wife was against it. She said nobody had to pay me for watching my child and the kids of such a close person as Walter.”
The spouses discussed this issue for a long time, but the wife was uncompromising. She got angry every time the author of the story brought up the topic. The neighbor promised to persuade her, but the trio never reached a compromise.
The story published by the user sparked heated discussions. Although the author was questioning whether it was appropriate to pay a father to take care of children, including his own daughter, people were mostly disturbed by different circumstances.
"Family relationships are not always simple, and we hope that the author of the story can navigate through the challenging situation. In the meantime, we want to share an inspiring story of love and support, where a husband cares for his wife in a vegetative state.