Hi, I became a single parent 2 years ago and have been in another relationship for about the last 6 months. He seems like a very genuine and lovely guy but there’s just a few things that I am questioning.
Recently I got asked to start working a few evening shifts at work and needed to arrange childcare for these occasions. Immediately he offered to look after my 5 year old daughter (who he has a great bond with) but I felt unsure as to whether I was ready for that so called in my mum instead. Since then there have been a number of occasions where he has eagerly offered to have my daughter while I do something else and he even asked her whether she wanted to go to town with him without checking with me first. I have not allowed any of this to happen. The thing is I don’t know what’s generally acceptable or normal in these situations. He clearly wants to be helpful and he adores my daughter but sometimes I feel like he’s a little too much. I have worked in safeguarding for a long time so maybe I am a little bit more aware of potential dangers but I can’t help myself now becoming really protective over my daughter. I feel like I am watching every moment and maybe reading into things too much.
Any advice around how to handle this would be much appreciated!