My sister is divorced with a two year old. Her ex was totally disinterested in their child, apart from something to dandle on his knee when he was in the mood - in the end he had an affair and left her.
The baby is now two and sees him EOW.
He insists he's a good dad but he takes my nephew to his parents every weekend and let's them do the bulk of the childcare. He might feed him and change the odd nappy, maybe go to the park but aside from that doesn't seem to do much.
In between times he doesn't contact my sister at all except to very occasionally give her a hard time about something. He never asks about his child or gets involved in the day to day.
My sister insists on defending him still and it can cause tension. She says he works long hours and doesn't like speaking to his son on the phone or skype because it's hard to communicate with a baby. She also says that if she texts him with an update, he'll say thanks, or glad he's better or something.
I think this is the absolute least he should be doing. To my mind, a childminder can change a nappy and take a kid to the park. What is he doing that shows he is the parent? I have work colleagues who take more of an interest in my children than he takes in his own son!
Am I being harsh, as my sister thinks, or should he be doing more even though he is non resident?