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Should I stop contact or am I being petty, hard to see the woods for the trees sometimes

4 replies

ShouldIDoThisOrNot · 30/05/2024 10:27

2 dc, 8 and 6.

Dad has one overnight every second weekend, he decided this schedule and refuses to even have them for tea on the other week so they at least see him weekly.

Problems - his house is a shit hole. I've stopped contact once due to some videos my dd took on her tablet that showed an overflowing litter box, mouldy plates and rubbish everywhere (he lives alone), I said he could see them when he cleans up, which he did. He has also sent them home drinking out of mouldy juice bottles before now. His house isn't that bad now, but it's still not great.

He's manipulative. Dd wanted to do a competition for her sport one weekend so told him she wasn't coming, he started manipulating her saying how sad he will be if he doesn't see her. On his birthday and Xmas he tells them how lonely he is and his life stops while he waits for them to see him, so they are then sad thinking of him alone.

He's pretty sexist, dresses them in 'girly' clothes only, one dd loves that, the other absolutely hates it, she exclusively wears tracksuit bottoms and jumpers. Says they have to keep their hair long or they won't look nice etc. Body shames women in the street (according to dds) and talks negatively about women's looks, especially ones who don't wear makeup.

He has one single bed for them, I said one month to not pay me maintenence and get bunk beds and he told me to ram it he doesn't need my charity. 8yo absolutely hates this sleeping arrangement.

Younger dd wets the bed and says she's sick for 2/3 nights after she comes back from hos house.

He is unreliable, several times he has slept in (in the evening) when he is supposed to pick up the girls. This leaves them very upset.

He charged me when I needed an operation and begged him to take the girls for a few days, I had to pay him then never heard the end of this 'favour'.

They are due there this week again and the days of upset after they come home just don't feel worth it for maintaining this relationship sometimes. He's not a great dad, the girls love spending time with him when they are there, but then the next 3/4 days seem to be complaining about his shitty behaviour, having no space there, and then a further week of processing shit he says and me explaining things to them, it's all sorted for a day or 2, then back to visitation and square one.

There's no abuse as such, he doesn't hit them or whatever, but he's a manipulative POS and it's clearly affecting them.

Is this a petty reason for stopping contact? It feels like it, but I just can't face another week of dealing with the shit he inflicts.

I've tried to talk to him many times, and he rarely listens, or says stuff like "well you did X wrong so you can't talk". I just exhausted from dealing with his failings tbh.

OP posts:
daffodilandtulip · 30/05/2024 10:32

Not saying it's right, but all of this and more was allowed during court ordered contact for my DC. They voted with their feet in the end.

ShouldIDoThisOrNot · 30/05/2024 11:09

daffodilandtulip · 30/05/2024 10:32

Not saying it's right, but all of this and more was allowed during court ordered contact for my DC. They voted with their feet in the end.

That horrendous, how long did your kids have to suffer through this shit before they were allowed to make their own choices?

The contact isn't court ordered, I'm not actually sure if he would bother actually.

I just don't know if I can go another 4/5 years of him messing their heads up, all the while he is shaping their thoughts in the years they are most vulnerable.

I feel like I'm battling against something I have zero control over. Makes me so sad for my girls having them go through this shit.

OP posts:
daffodilandtulip · 30/05/2024 11:12

ShouldIDoThisOrNot · 30/05/2024 11:09

That horrendous, how long did your kids have to suffer through this shit before they were allowed to make their own choices?

The contact isn't court ordered, I'm not actually sure if he would bother actually.

I just don't know if I can go another 4/5 years of him messing their heads up, all the while he is shaping their thoughts in the years they are most vulnerable.

I feel like I'm battling against something I have zero control over. Makes me so sad for my girls having them go through this shit.

Five years during the court case. He stopped bothering the day after it ended.

You do have to accept you can’t control it, or you’ll go mad. If you’re absolutely sure he wouldn’t do court, I wouldn’t worry too much. But I’d do anything to avoid court, it’s a mess and you’ll end up in a worse situation. I thought mine wouldn’t bother, but he did after a year of me not even knowing where he was - and even then, I was given the blame for not offering contact 🤷🏼‍♀️

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Allshallbewell2021 · 30/05/2024 12:35

When did his behaviour become like this? Does he have work? Does he have a family?

Do they have to stay over? Is it far away?

It would be interesting to hear from adults who could describe whether they are glad they saw their dad despite his living in squalor or not.

It's so hard to tell what is meaningful in the long term. Of course it sounds terrible; and yet he is their dad so having a relationship with him is important to foster if at all possible.

Is he just a total clueless slob or was he once a functioning grown up? Is he ill? It's so hard to know what you should do unless the reasons for his behavior are clearer.

I didn't see my f for years after we moved away and I think I would rather have seen him than not at all. But I would have preferred to see him for the day and not stayed over if it was revolting.

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