27 March 2020

So – Chewie is suffering at the moment. Here’s her story….

Mum and Dad appear to have separated, and I really am not sure what to do.

Dad stays in one part of the house – most of the time. He sits at a desk with a computer and he has his own fridge and kettle and sleeps alone in the bedroom and uses the ensuite bathroom on his own. Which is fine – no one wants to go into the bathroom when he’s there.

Mum has moved out into the spare room and we had to borrow single bed from Nana, because Mum had real problems sleeping on the blow up mattress. And let’s be honest, I didn’t like sleeping on a blow up mattress either, so the single bed is good.

Mum now shares the bathroom and toilet with Josh, and quite frankly the bathroom and toilet have never been cleaner.

I kind of feel sorry for Dad and I often go into the front part of the house (Mum refers to it as the cage) just to keep him company for a little while. He’s a bit annoying because he keeps picking me up and showing me off to the people on his computer. I’m worried because Mum sprays everything Dad touches with sanitiser stuff, and I think if she knows he picks me up she will spray me. That stuff stinks.

At night time I like to sleep with Mum (obviously! who wouldn’t?) but there are issues. The single bed is comfortable for me to lie on during the day, but at night time I’m worried Mum will accidentally kick me off (it would have to be an accident because she loves me so much that it would never be deliberate…). I do wander into the cage area every now and then just to make sure Dad hasn’t escaped. When it smells too bad I go straight back to Mum’s room.

Sometimes Dad is allowed into the non cage part of the house. He has to bring his used dishes into the kitchen when Mum yells out that the dishwasher is open, and one day he was allowed to bring clothes out to put in the washing machine. If he touches anything, or even thinks about touching anything, Mum gets out the spray.

I run.

I don’t know how other children of separated parents are dealing with these sort of issues. I ask my friends at the park but they get distracted by balls and sticks and food….

Food??? Did you say food???? Where???