DD has been asking lots of questions lately about why me and her dad split up, why he never bothers to see her when she goes to her nans, why she isnt allowed to sleep at his house, why we dont live near him anymore etc.
She is quite clued up for her age, and I felt she would be intelligent enough to understand certain things,she asked me herself without anything being overheard from us(maybe his family, I dont know, but not us) if he was an alcoholic as he is always in the pub, she has also told me she remembered him smashing our front door and hitting me once. Anyway, i hate the thought of lying to her, and was worried she might ask him/his family these questions and be told I am stopping her from having too much to do with him because I am selfish or something along those lines, she had also heard from somewhere he had been in prison. I explained to her that he had been in prison for hurting someone and that he sometimes took drugs, which was part of the reason we moved away, she also remembers the police kicking my door in at 6am, which i have now told her they were looking for her dad, and that I was worried about him teaching her and her brother bad things as I love them so much and am so proud of them that I want them to have all the best possibilities available to them. I'm not sure if I should have told her though, she seemed to understand and made very grown up responses. Has anyone else had experience of maybe being cruel, and telling children about the reality of the situation??