One day my friend and I were talking about what ideal family relationships should be like, and then, as an example of one such family, I suggested we look at people we knew.
– Yes, what are you so surprised about! They are so model now, and you would have known them a few years ago.
Jack and Helen have been married for fifty years. Over the years they have had a son together, and now they are helping their daughter-in-law raise their grandchildren. They always look like a model family, maybe that’s why, like everyone else who knew nothing about their past, I thought their life was like a fairy tale. But it wasn’t until recently that Helen decided to share their family history with her friend.
Jack and Helen met at a dance, they liked each other literally at first sight. They first just hung out together, and then they started dating. Then they got married, and the government even gave them a place to live as young spouses. In those days all young families were given their own square meters from the factory where they both worked.
The spouses were over the moon and everything was going just fine. The family idyll lasted until Helen gave birth. After that it turned out that the new father had only seen kids in pictures before. He believed that the first year of life, all children only eat, sleep and smile. But in reality, the baby was screaming at night, and was constantly soiling his diapers. Daddy was, to put it mildly, completely unprepared for this. Taking his son in his arms was out of the question, because he was afraid to even go near him. Needless to say, he did not help his young wife with the baby in any way. A week after Helen came home from the hospital, the father tired of the constant lack of sleep said to his wife:
– “Sweetheart, I’m sorry, but I have to work, so I have to sleep properly. – After these words, the father gathered his things and returned to his parents.
Mommy did not ask her son any unnecessary questions and did not even ask how he had the conscience to leave his wife alone with their newborn. On the contrary, she began to create the most comfortable conditions for her son so that he could rest well. In addition, mother-in-law constantly reproached daughter-in-law by the fact that she could not put the baby to bed, so that her son could not sleep well. Just imagine how Helen lived in such conditions.
Every morning, Jack would leave his mother to go to work, and at lunchtime he would visit his wife, have lunch, and leave. After work he would run home for a few minutes, kiss his wife and son, and then run to mommy. This went on for several years, Helen could even be called a single mother, since she actually raised the child alone. All the neighbors believed that they had a complete family, but it was just a beautiful show.
Sometimes Jack strolled along with the stroller in the doorway, and then all the grandmothers looked at him affectionately and kindly envied Helen, that she had such an excellent, caring husband. And then this caring father would surrender his son to his mother and go to his mother. After his son grew up, went to kindergarten and started sleeping well at night, Jack started sleeping at home again. Helen was able to go to work, which made her the happiest. After a while Jack began to persuade his wife to have another baby, and at the same time he couldn’t understand why she refused.
At first Jack’s relationship with his son was quite strained, but after the father began to take his son on fishing trips, they began to have an understanding. However, this happened only after the son went to first grade. He just did not really communicate with his own child until then.
It seemed that life began to get better, but it was only an illusion… My mother-in-law had a stroke and was paralyzed. It is clear that the daughter-in-law had to take care of her. The couple took Jack’s mother with them, so they wouldn’t leave her unattended; of course, the mother-in-law’s apartment was supposed to be theirs. Despite the fact that Helen took care of her mother-in-law, she continued to hate her and mocked her as much as she could: she told her son that Helen didn’t let her eat, hurt and beat her. Her mother-in-law made Helen’s life a living hell, which only ended when her parent died.
That was the Petrovs’ married life, though everyone around them was sure that they had an ideal family and that they had something to envy: their wife was a beauty, their husband was a hard worker, and their son had an excellent education. But no one can even imagine what is going on in their home. So you should never supervise anyone, because you only see the picture they want to show you.
