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AIBU?

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..to be upset that DP shares custody of his teddy bear with his ex?

965 replies

BearProblems · 07/12/2016 17:12

DP and I have been together 2 and a half years. We live together and have a DC. A few months before we got together, DP had split with his ex, who he'd been with for over a decade. Their split was amicable but they've hardly had any contact since. She seems to be a perfectly nice person. They have no DCs.

When DP moved in, over a year ago, his ex came to my house to collect Bear who was going "on holiday" with her. DP hadn't warned me this was happening, and I was just expecting her to drop some of DP's stuff off. DP did the handing over but it was all unbearably awkward. DP hadn't told her that he was moving in with me (we have known each other vaguely for years) so she couldn't have been expecting the new girlfriend to be a witness to this nonsense. He didn't tell her because he was hardly in touch with her and was (like a total coward) hoping someone else would tell her so he wouldn't have to. Anyway, I thought that was the end of it and she would be too embarrassed to ask for Bear again.

Today DP and I went out for a nice lunch together and, over the pudding, he mentioned, very awkwardly, that he was going out this evening... taking Bear, who is off on his Christmas holidays. He will drop Bear off with ex before meeting friends to play darts. He'll be gone a couple of hours in all.

I am 100% certain there is nothing going on with DP and his ex (or anyone else for that matter) but this has made me feel incredibly weird and uncomfortable and actually a bit insecure.

He made this arrangement with his ex and didn't tell me until a few hours before the arranged drop off. I know full well the reason he didn't tell me was because he was embarrassed about it (and rightly so!) but still, it seems disloyal to arrange things with an ex and not tell me.

And then there's the fact that it's so fucking weird! I can see, when she asked if she could have Bear for Christmas, he felt he couldn't object without seeming mean and petty or making me out to be some suspicious psycho (he knows I wasn't totally happy about the last time). He's a bit of a coward who hates conflict but also a kind man who doesn't want to hurt anyone unnecessarily.

I don't know what bothers me about it so much. I had been planning to get Bear a Christmas stocking - lucky I'm not sufficiently organised to have done anything about it yet. (I think this sort of stupid infantilism about DP's bear is fine within the confines of a romantic relationship but outside of one, it's just a bit creepy).

Sorry this is so long. It's so bloody ludicrous it was hardly worth writing let alone reading!

OP posts:
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PenguinsandPebbles · 07/12/2016 17:48

It think I know your DP's ex. Is this bear called Samuel by any chance?

Well if there isn't some sock puppeting going on Hmm surely it has to be because there can't be someone else in the world who shares custody of a bloody bear.

EddieStobbart · 07/12/2016 17:50

I had a tiger come to tea once. It drank all the water in the tap. Bastard.

Whatallama · 07/12/2016 17:50

I get the attachment to the bear, but the shared custody thing is very weird. Saying that, there are all sorts in the world, and if he's otherwise lovely, I'd just leave it be.

Ideally, maybe Bear would 'write a note' to your partner saying that he'd found a lovely girl bear at your exes house, and he'd like to stay. And then maybe find a new bear for your partner.

But then again, it should be her giving up the bear not him, given it was his to begin with.

LadyWhoLikesLunch · 07/12/2016 17:50

I have a teddy that I'm fairly attached to I have had since I was born and as a child it went with me every where. In fact 5 year old me kicked off in the airport when the security guy pulled its ears.

However, I would not be expecting anyone else to want to share my teddy, I would not be buying it a stocking and it stop going on holidays with be before I reached double figures.

I would be questioning whether or not the ex wanted more than just bear for the xmas.

But this has made my day Grin

PenguinsandPebbles · 07/12/2016 17:51

Or you could just buy her a vibrator?

It's the washed pyjamas that are causing me the concern.

quicklydecides · 07/12/2016 17:51

Your partner needs to get his bear back and then tell her that he's not loaning him out again because it's fucking stupid.
Will he agree to do that?

Veggiesupremeextracheese · 07/12/2016 17:51

What does she do with it on her shared custody time? Does she have a new partner? Surely he would also think it's weird?! Confused

mygorgeousmilo · 07/12/2016 17:51

Reading these comments is giving me a very enjoyable end to a very busy day Wine this is gold!

MollyHopps · 07/12/2016 17:52

Oh why did I take my new meds, I think I am high

chewingawasp · 07/12/2016 17:52

Are they both a bit grizzly without the bear?

ilovesooty · 07/12/2016 17:52

There are some serious attachment issues here and the bear is probably the tip of the iceberg.

sparklybluelights · 07/12/2016 17:52

Penguins
Grin

formerbabe · 07/12/2016 17:54

Surely you need legal advice.

Maybe you could find a solicitor who specialises in Teddy Bear custody arrangements and see if you can get half an hour's free advice?

AmserGwin · 07/12/2016 17:55

Can we have a photo of the bear please OP?

BrieAndChilli · 07/12/2016 17:55

I just can't see how this initially happened, they split up and then she turned round and said I want visitation rights to a stuffed bear????!!!
She either still wants him and so is using this as a way to stay in his life or she is seriously unhinged!!!

EddieStobbart · 07/12/2016 17:55

And don't get me started on Blue Kangaroo - the beer and the women I could cope with, it was his penchant for thrash metal that sent me over the edge.

Slightlyperturbedowlagain · 07/12/2016 17:55

Put it in the dustbin or send to a jumble sale and send them each a postcard from bear saying that he has run away abroad to escape his batty 'parents'.

TataEs · 07/12/2016 17:56

shameless place marking for more details on bear.

Hassled · 07/12/2016 17:56

The bear has to die. It's the only possible resolution to this gripping and highly likely tale. But how? How does one kill a bear? Dropping from the roof of a car park isn't going to work and nor is drowning. There will have to be a knife involved, I'm afraid.

LineyReborn · 07/12/2016 17:56

Too many body fluid issues for me. I'm out. Confused

PelvicFloorClenchReminder · 07/12/2016 17:57

My parents had a pfb teddy bear.

They loved it more than me Sad

EddieStobbart · 07/12/2016 17:57

And Superworm - that was a disaster. Hours in therapy after The Incident.

PabloEscobarReallyLovesHisKids · 07/12/2016 17:58

Can someone film the bear when your partner does his voice for him? Then upload to YouTube and post the link on here.
Thank you Smile

Msqueen33 · 07/12/2016 17:58

I have to know if the bear is called Samuel now! This is hilarious. I'd have told my dp to tell his ex to bugger off. I had three teddies from a young age and my ex dp grew attached to them. Did we share them after we split? Did we fuck. Do you guys have kids?!

TheDowagerCuntess · 07/12/2016 17:58

So your partner was given a bear years agin by another ex, adores it and a different ex grew to have as equal an attachment to it during their relationship, to the point where she now has visitation over a stuffed bear?

Not only that, the current girlfriend has been bewitched enough by the inanimate object, that she is buying it a stocking...!!!! Shock

The whole sorry mess would be bad enough if it was a childhood toy (how do you have sex with a man so attached to a stuffed toy?), but it's not.

It was given to him at 18 years of age. By an ex. How do you have sex with a man so attached to a toy he was given as an adult. By an ex!

Envy (not envy, by the way)

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