So I have been thinking that after we have the baby, we should draft a will, especially noting who we would want our little girl to go to in case anything ever happened (not that I want to think of this...but we have to now) I am torn b/c obviously both sets of grandparents are wonderful...is anyone else afraid to hurt feelings with family...wouldnt one side of the fam be totally crushed? I know I shuold stop worrying about others feelings and think of my child, but anyone have experience even with this or even basic things like holidays...are feelings hurt by either side and how do you choose??
Re: afraid to hurt feelings
Um, I can see your dilema. We will need to draft a will as well. If we're choosing parents, I will def choose my mom (my parents are not together) because my dad can be quite irresponsible, MIL is a nut case waiting to be diagnosed, and FIL doesn't seem to be into children like that.
Ultimately, it's what's in the best interest of your baby, not about hurting feelings. Try to keep that in mind.
Custody would go to my mom.
DH's parent's are awesome, but they are almost 70 and I wouldn't be able to place LO with them knowing he'd be displaced again soon. My mom is almost 20 years younger than the IL's, so it seemed like the logical thing to do.
This isn't something where you should worry about hurt feelings. The only thing you should worry about is who is best suited to raise your child if something should happen to you and your H.
We picked a non-family member, and another non-family member as a back up. DH's siblings would not raise our child the way we want him or her to be raised, neither would his parents. My parents are in their late 60s already and not physically up to the job, and neither of my siblings is even out of college yet so they wouldn't be able to handle it financially.
Talk to an estate attorney.
If you're worried about hurting feelings, only tell the people you are choosing and ask them to keep it on the DL. Chances are it will never happen but if it does you need to think about what's best for your child, not everyone else.
We had it a bit easier because we both agreed on my sister and brother-in-law. They have two children and another on the way and are amazing parents. Plus, they are financially stable enough for my sister to stay home with the kids, so if anything ever happened I think everyone in our families would understand why we chose them. We still don't have any intention of telling anyone else who we chose unless we are asked though.