I’ve got three kids and am a single mum. They have very recently (as in last month) started doing 50/50 with their dad who is a shit.
it’s my sons 13th birthday next weekend, we’re going to Glastonbury Festival and he wanted a celebration not at the festival so he had friends for an (expensive) day out on Saturday. on Sunday i did have to go out in the morning to collect his older sister and a couple of last minute bits for him. But I decorated the house, baked him a giant cookie, bought balloons and presents and we had family over for a little party and a bbq. He played on the computer with friends for a bit but just as he came off a friend called me with a couple of important questions and at the same time ds wanted to do candles and cake etc. I wasn’t on the phone long - literally 5-10 mins and ds started crying and getting angry. His gps were prepping food and things so it’s not like he was alone. I then came off the phone (it really was like 10 mins it wasn’t chit chat it was just arranging something) and ds was distraught - I didn’t care about him or his birthday and Glastonbury is much more important etc. he stormed off upstairs. I went up to see him and said I felt that was a bit unfair I have been available for him almost all day, and the previous day was his birthday trip! He came down a bit later and was slightly cheerier and went to bed happy.
I feel awful and also so hurt. I really tried to make it a nice day for him and I feel like I still got it wrong. We went to Glastonbury last year and he really enjoyed it though felt we didn’t pay enough attention to his birthday hence celebrating it the weekend before this time. All the kids were involved in deciding to buy tickets again this year and he said he wanted to. I’ve arranged a cake and a couple of small presents on the actual day too but obv he isn’t the centre of attention per se.
I don’t know what I even want from this thread. Is this normal for a 13 year old to react in this way? I can’t work out if i totally messed up and made him feel unimportant or if there’s a deeper emotional issue here.