Re: Interferring when a matter of security
How ironic. She realizes that she needs a babysitter but chooses to leave them home alone to drop off the babysitter..the person that she acknowledges needing by virtue of hiring her.
First of all, how old are these children? Many places have laws in place that state that 13 is an age when children are generally considered old enough to be alone for SHORT periods of time.
If she is suffering from depression, then all your words of advice will fall on deaf ears. People in a state of depression are unable to make connections and some people even give the same advice to themselves but just are unable to act on it.
The best thing is firstly give her as much support and relief as possible. If she is in a depression, one was to get her out of it is for her to get out of the environment causing the depression. I have to assume that the children are not of school going age if they are home with her. Can they find some private daycare to give her a few hours or few days off from the kids? If not, she needs to do something..go to someones house, start some classes where babysitting is provided etc..
The other thing to do which is equally important is to somehow convince her to see a doctor who can diagnose her and if she falls under the depressive state, can prescribe medications for her. However, I say this with a caveat because if she is suffering from environmental depression, no medication is going to work for her as long as her environment is the same.
In which case, I would say, it is better for the couple to end it and separate than for the children to grow up in a broken home. The father is obviously not able to spend too much time due to his shifts and the mother is obviously out of it AND I am 100% certain the children are having to observe the parents constantly fighting. This is absolutely not good for the kids and unless the conflicts are resolved amicably (which they havent if she is feeling depressed), it will only get worse.