One of the reasons my current relationship has been so successful is due to the frequent level of intimacy we experience as a couple. We are intimate at least three to four times a week and are both getting our needs met in a satisfactory manner. On the cusp of our three-year anniversary, my girlfriend’s 6-year-old son has started doing something different. At night, he comes and climbs into our bed.
My lady knows how I feel about this so as soon as he pops up and pops in, she walks him back over to his own bedroom. The problem is that she falls asleep in his bed and does NOT end up coming back to bed with me. When we ask him what is bothering him at night, he proclaims to be having nightmares that are making it impossible for him to sleep.
I decided to take the opportunity to share a story from my own childhood. I expressed having had my own personal issues with sleep when I was roughly her son’s age. I explained that my parents would walk me back to my bedroom and read me a story, then turn on the nightlight and leave the door cracked on their way out. I became accustomed to this nightly regimen and suggested my girlfriend try this instead of sleeping in her son’s bed every night.
Last night came and went, and my girlfriend ended up having her nightly sleepover in her son’s bed. I continue to protest it, which makes me look insensitive and cold, but I’m afraid our relationship won’t outlast her son’s issue with nightmares. I have even suggested that my girlfriend seek professional help for the problem, but she seems to think it will all just go away on its own if we don’t pay too much attention to it.
We’re arguing more than ever before, and I’m wondering if I should put my foot down and threaten to abandon the relationship or continue waiting things out in the hope that it will resolve on its own.
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