I was disgusted when I read the name. I was hoping that 'McKinley' was a pet. But I was a fool to assume such a thing. :-)

I concur

love the pic 27, cracks me up every time! :-)

^^^^^ WIN!!!!!!

but a married teen mum would be so much more responsible eh Perdix? lol sorry for picking on that wee bit I need to curb my thoughts on marriage in public :) On a serious note we don't know how old she is, she may have been living with the father in their own house but when he left they had to move in with her parents. unlikely scenario but you never know :)

monnanon, if she were married, that would just be one more mammal ahead of her in the "chain of command." hahahahaha. Of course, we don't know the OP's age and situation, but there's a basic rule of comedy that if you have zillions of conditional statements preceding it, the punchline is not going to be that damn funny. We might be on the same page about marriage in general, but when it comes to kids, having two good parents is the best situation. Marriage can kind of force that to happen even when the parents might not like each other anymore.

yeah i agree with you two gd parents are always best no matter what relationship those parents have

I bet he did!!!!

my mother told me the same thing when my son was born. she said if she could have been a grandma first it would have been better. it's a known fact that children become shit when they make their parents grandparents.

Would you rather she live on her own with her daughter and barely be able to support herself-- let alone the kid?

I'm with NGMH on this one. Half the people who do have children don't plan on it.

Toby your parent most likely didn't plan to have you,as for like 90% of pregnancies out there they are not planned. just because it wasn't a planned pregnancy doesn't mean it wasn't a wanted or a happy pregnancy.

47: I have to disagree with just about everything you've said. Contrary to popular belief, living with your parents as an adult does not necessarily indicate a lack of responsibility. Many uncontrollable circumstances could necessitate such an arrangement. For example, although we have no kids, Mr. Doe and I had to live with family for awhile to "get back on our feet" after a traumatic few years. I'd developed an unforeseen and non-preventable disability. My husband needed help taking care of me, and medical costs were bleeding us dry every month. As for the rankings, I would agree with you that the child should come first, *if* the list was ranking the household by priority. It wasn't. The OP specifically said the list indicated the *authority* given to each member of the household. I can understand grandparents letting a kid rule their roost, but only as long as the child didn't live in that situation full-time. Even the most precocious and well-behaved two year old needs at least one strong authority figure in her life, preferably a parent. The grandparents are doing this little girl no favors by taking that away.

Kay, you hit the nail right on the cockhead. Jane, you're right - kids come first. My daughter is the most important thing in my life, and I include my own life in my life. Wait, that didn't come out right. Goddammit, you know what I mean! Quit hounding me!