Can anyone help give any guidance with this situation please.
Long story short my child’s father and I te separated and have been for 4 years. I live with our child full time and father sees him once a week on his day off (he picks our son up from school nd will look after him until I finish work then bring him to my home I share with my child)
Anyway over the years we have had slight disagreements with his role in parenting. Mostly that I think he could do more. He pays £180 a month for child maintenance and as I said sees our child once a week when he pick him up.
Child’s father works 50 hours a week over 5 days and gets home around 11pm everyday except Sunday and Monday.
I currently work freelancing as the industry I work and my career basically involves long hours (working until 7pm usually) and weekend work and when employed within the business and as I have our child all the time and childcare is difficult and expensive (basically I earn the same amount per day or near enough as childcare fees when employed) - so I freelance. So I can set my hours around our child and make a better wage again for us.
When it comes to expenses I’m always expected to find the money myself and del with it myself. Child’s father feels he pays £180 a month and that should cover everything (uniforms, days out, holidays etc)
Now the 6 weeks holidays has come up and we’re not going away but I’m still hoping to book something from now and pay down for next year. Anyway I’ve asked Childs father if he can take some of his annual leave so he can look after our son a few days or even finish early so I can work a few full days instead of half days and I can make abit more money as I’ll need it for the 6 weeks he will be off. Child’s father has said his used his annual leave and what’s left is already booked for his holiday. Which would be his second big one this year. And in fact since our son has been born his father has gone on holiday twice a year and can’t even help me towards his sons first holiday.
What can I do about this ?
I honestly feel like parenting should be a shared job. He sees our son one day a week and even that’s just because it’s his day off. I understand he needs to work but he lives with a new partner (whom he has been with since we separated) and they both work full time. I however live alone with our child and work the odd hours I can fit around childcare. I have the same expenses and even more.