Parents who view visitation with the other parent as something that’s a necessary evil often count down not only the days in front of their child, but hours too.
If a parent says to the child “Honey, I miss you so much, only 40 hours until I see you,” what is that telling them?
First, it tells them that there’s a mental clock counting town the time until “freedom” occurs. Until the misery of having to be with the other parent is over. It’s simply not healthy for parents to use such countdowns.
My son’s mother does this. Just yesterday it was “40 hours.” Not 2 days, mind you. 40 hours.
What she should be doing is asking him what he’s doing, to support those things, and then say “have a blast tomorrow, I’ll talk to you then.” Period.
So if your child mentions “only 35 hours until I see Mom,” you know what’s going on the the parent’s mind.
