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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Contact when NRP is under the weather?

6 replies

HandOfBananas · 01/02/2022 11:23

Ex had dc this weekend and has just told me he was feeling ill but had to have them anyway because I'd made him (I didn't - I didn't even know he felt off because he didn't tell me 🙄)

He is asking whether if he feels unwell again he still has to have the dc and I don't know what to say.

He sees them once a month (his choice). He was under the weather - not full on sick since he managed to collect and bring them back and take them out while they were there.

One part of me feels that it's not nice for the dc when they see him so infrequently if he isn't 100% when they are there.
But they are children who find deviation from plans very hard to cope with and would also find it very hard for contact to be cancelled at the last minute (and have done so when he has done so in the past)
Another part feels that I don't have any choice and have them whether I'm well or sick for the vast majority of the time.

He is and was very controlling and manipulative and is quite capable of lying about being unwell because he thinks it will interfere with me having child free plans.

It's not so much AIBU because I don't know what to think, more what position is reasonable?

A) he should have them regardless unless he is completely debilitated - can't get up and function - unwell
B) he is right to cancel even if he just has a bit of a cold

OP posts:
moirarosebabay · 01/02/2022 11:25

A. You don't get to call in sick to being a parent. My ex did this the first week he was meant to have our kids. Doesnt send a good message to them and in years to come or even now they will know who has their back regardless (that would be you) sorry you have to deal with this, it's shitty.

SophiesMummySaid · 01/02/2022 11:25

He is making you decide so he can blame you when things go wrong - because there is no perfect answer.
Ask him what he thinks you should do when you feel ill.
And don’t tell him what to do when he feels I’ll, keep shrugging and saying “it’s up to you”

SartresSoul · 01/02/2022 11:28

You don’t get a day off when you’re sick so he shouldn’t either. He barely sees them or actually does any parenting as it is, the last thing he should do is back out of the few hours a month with them because he has man flu. What a dick.

RedCandyApple · 01/02/2022 11:35

My ex would never have the kids when he was ill, he would always cancel, he never thought to himself that I still had to have them when I was ill...

Theunamedcat · 01/02/2022 11:36

Shrug it off tell him it's his choice never make the choice for him he will blame you get it via text too don't just have a conversation with him about it I learned the hard way ex telling me he was sick or working then telling others I was preventing contact I stopped taking calls due to "driving" he had to text me he had a migraine I then bumped into his friends who told me off for stopping contact I simply showed them the text they dumped him as a close friend soon after they are polite but not getting involved with drama kind of friends

HandOfBananas · 01/02/2022 12:12

Thanks. Everything is by text because I've been advised by cafcass to minimise direct contact between us due to his behaviour. I will reply that it's up to him then.

OP posts:
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