We were watching 'Wanted Down Under' this morning and the family looking to move was a woman and her female partner and their four children (each woman had two).
The woman who was the central focus (I presume she originally contacted the BBC) was desperate to move to Australia and was convinced that it would be better for her whole family, however, she had (obviously) since split from her kids' dad, who was, of course, not part of the package in the considered move.
It was a bit confusing as the presenter seemed to be maybe suggesting that he was the dad of all four kids. I don't know whether he had previously also been the partner of the other women or had maybe donated sperm, or if her kids' dad had since died or was a disappeared deadbeat - but the aforementioned man they featured is the dad of at least two of the kids.
Of course, appearances can be deceptive, but he genuinely seemed like a really devoted, involved dad - he was described as 'very hands-on'. He said that he wanted the best for the kids, but I (rightly or wrongly) perceived some sadness when he said that.
The 'main' woman's mum didn't want them to go and, of course, most scenarios involving moving to the other side of the world invariably mean family members being physically divided and being able to meet maybe once every few years at best for the rest of the older generation's lives rather than potentially seeing each other week in, week out - the kids' grandparents, aunties, uncles, cousins etc; but I've never seen one before where children were actually being taken away from one of their parents, who was a continued presence in their lives.
It just left me with so many questions. How can this possibly be considered? How could the mum deliberately want to take her kids so far away from their dad? Why wouldn't the dad put his foot down and point-blank refuse? Did the kids vote according to their genuine feelings (three said move to Oz and one was undecided) or how they thought they were 'supposed' to vote?
The final decision was that they would move to Australia, although they were being extremely optimistic about the financial side of it and looking at properties way out of their price range. On this show, they always seem to think that there are 'UK-type' properties and 'Australian-type' properties, as though both countries didn't have a wide range of diverse dwellings to choose from, and I always think they seem to be comparing a holiday in Oz with mundane life in the UK, so it's far from a like for like scenario to decide on. The dad said that he would probably end up moving there as well, eventually - whether he will or won't, whether he wants to anyway or whether he feels blackmailed into it if he's going to get to see his kids again; I really don't know.
What do other folk think about this?
YANBU: How could anybody consider this for a moment? She is very selfish to take his kids away from him (and vice versa);
YABU: She is just following her dream to give her family the best life and opportunities and he will just have to make plans to move as well if he wants to remain part of his kids' lives.
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AIBU?
Moving from the UK to Australia with your kids and taking them away from their dad? (BBC Wanted Down Under)
47 replies
WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 28/09/2020 01:01
OP posts:
Am I being unreasonable?
349 votes. Final results.
POLL
You are being unreasonable
6%
You are NOT being unreasonable
94%
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