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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

You don't make a child apologise for having a panic attack

58 replies

TechGinny · 12/06/2022 15:01

This is long, but I don't want to drip feed...
I share my three children with my ex-husband, who has them every other weekend and one evening a week for tea. He lives around 40 mins away and is in the process of buying a house further away with his new fiancée.

Our eldest suffers dreadfully with social anxiety and panic attacks, which were triggered by having to go to her dad's house for a long time, although this has improved recently. On occasion she's felt unable to go and stay there, and I've had to talk her through a panic attack over the phone many times as her dad just doesn't understand (or try to understand) her anxiety. There are other problems there as well, such as him getting her to help out with her younger brothers and then accusing her of acting too much like me, not making her feel heard and making all activities and films centred around what he and the boys want to do. He's told her that in the new house her bedroom will have to double up as the spare room for guests, which has made her feel like she doesn't matter.

This weekend she called me in the midst of a terrible panic attack, which had already been going on for an hour. This is the first time she and her brothers have been with their dad for 2.5 weeks, as he's been on holiday with his fiancée (they got engaged there, so this is very recent for the kids to get used to). They were at a family party for the fiancée's 40th birthday, so lots of people there. The party, combined with having been away from her dad for so long and the new engagement, was too much for DD to cope with, and triggered this panic attack.

Her dad's response was to get cross with her, and instead of taking her somewhere quiet to work through it with him, she had the option of staying in the open-plan house where everyone could see her, or sit in the car. She chose the car, where he carried on being cross with her, then closed the door and walked off with the keys, effectively locking her in (automatic locking).

When she called me in a terrible state, I knew I had to go to her as she'd already been suffering for an hour, but she didn't know the address beyond the city they were in. I called my ex, said was going to come to her and sit with her in my car until she was feeling ok again, and he refused to tell me where they were. I argued with him for a good 10 minutes, explaining that she wasn't doing this on purpose and had got to the point of needing me, until he finally relented and sent me the address. I drove to her, we sat in the car for a while until she was ok enough to go back to the house (as I knew she would with the right support) and came home.

She called me earlier and said that he dad has spoken to her today and told her that his fiancée was upset by yesterday and that DD needed to apologise. I'm absolutely disgusted that he could even think of making his own daughter apologise for her panic attack that she had absolutely no control over, and that he's laid the guilt of his fiancée being upset on her. I think that I need to speak to him about his whole relationship with our DD because he's running risk of damaging it irreparably, but I want to make sure I'm not being clouded by my protective love for her.

YABU - she should apologise for what happened

YANBU - she needs support and love, not blame, and he's wrong to make her apologise

OP posts:
tiredanddangerous · 12/06/2022 15:03

YANBU. Does she actually want to go to her dads? At 16 she has a choice.

Somewhereinfragglerock · 12/06/2022 15:07

If she wants to stop visiting her dad I would recommend u support this. If he's causing her this amount of anxiety can't imagine she really wants to be around him...if at all!!

I feel for her and u so much sounds awful x

Bootothegoose · 12/06/2022 15:07

Get her to pack her things and go and collect her. She never had to go back if she doesn’t want to. He sounds horrible you poor girl.

Bootothegoose · 12/06/2022 15:08

your*

Mommabear20 · 12/06/2022 15:09

Definitely do not apologise! It's one thing for the fiancé to be annoyed, it's not her child after all (not condoning it but being realistic), but her father should absolutely not be treating his daughter in this way. He should have 1) helped his DD through the panic attack, 2) called you himself if he wasn't able to deal with it effectively, and 3) told his fiancé that his daughter was having a hard time and to cut her some slack!

TechGinny · 12/06/2022 15:09

She loves her dad, and does want to go most of the time, but she has such a miserable time there a lot of the time. I never make her go, if she doesn't want to.

I should have said, she's 12.

OP posts:
Mommabear20 · 12/06/2022 15:10

Would she maybe be more comfortable if she only went for dinner? Or the afternoon at the weekends rather than staying there?

TeaWithFlorence · 12/06/2022 15:10

No she shouldn't have to apologise. Perhaps he thinks she's just being naughty/attention seeking.

Does she actually want to go sleep over there? Would she be happier just going for dinner there once a week and not staying at the weekends?

Having said that If she only stays over EOW i can't see any problem with them using her room as a guest room while she's not there. We do with my dsc bedroom because we have a very small house and very occasional guests. It doesn't mean we don't love dsc, it's just that we have nowhere to put guests aside from his room.

worraliberty · 12/06/2022 15:13

He's a twat who obviously thinks she's acting up.

As an aside, if she's prone to panic attacks, could you look into getting a phone tracker so you can get to her quicker?

deedledeedledum · 12/06/2022 15:13

Mommabear20 · 12/06/2022 15:09

Definitely do not apologise! It's one thing for the fiancé to be annoyed, it's not her child after all (not condoning it but being realistic), but her father should absolutely not be treating his daughter in this way. He should have 1) helped his DD through the panic attack, 2) called you himself if he wasn't able to deal with it effectively, and 3) told his fiancé that his daughter was having a hard time and to cut her some slack!

It's not in the slightest OK for the fiancé or anyone else to be annoyed. ANNOYED??? At someone having a panic attack? This is like being annoyed that someone had a seizure or fell into a hypoglycaemic coma

LittleOwl153 · 12/06/2022 15:14

I'm assuming g she has her own phone given she calls you? If she does get her to share her location with you then you can always track her down if he is being difficult.

Beyond that I'd be wanting to go ballistic at him but I know that isn't the answer. How old is she? I'd be keeping very careful records of what she says, record calls if you can, note what is said on each of these occasions. As other say if she doesn't want to go support her to do so. She's going to find his move very difficult anyway. Poor kid. Why do this parttime dad's do this to their kids?!

Mally100 · 12/06/2022 15:18

Yanbu I would be livid that he left her in the car so that she doesn't cause a scene! He could have calmed her down much faster and got her feeling ok, if he was a good parent. As for the fiance, she doesn't get to be annoyed. What kind of SM is she .

TechGinny · 12/06/2022 15:20

Oh, a tracker is a brilliant idea, thank you to both of you who suggested that! I'll speak to her when she's back later and get one set up on her phone. Yes, she's had her own phone since she was in Yr 5 so that she could contact me whenever she wanted to at her dad's house.

To be fair to her dad, he did contact me to ask me to call her, which I didn't see as I was in the supermarket and didn't look at my phone til DD called me. But then he tried to stop me going to help her... the mind boggles at his reasoning.

She's such a beautiful girl - kind, thoughtful, smart, hard-working... I really couldn't ask for a more wonderful daughter, and it breaks my heart that she has this with her dad.

OP posts:
TechGinny · 12/06/2022 15:25

Re. using her room as a spare room in the new house, I totally get that it has to be that way in lots of houses where there isn't an alternative. However, all of their close relatives live within half an hour of them, so they don't have people to stay very often, and they have a big, new sofa bed for guests to use. In my opinion, if they have an occasional guest who isn't up to sleeping on a sofa bed, my ex and his fiancée should give up their own bed for the night rather than making an anxious almost-teenager share her only safe space in the house. She's told him how she feels, and he's basically told her it's tough luck.

OP posts:
TeaWithFlorence · 12/06/2022 15:32

TechGinny · 12/06/2022 15:25

Re. using her room as a spare room in the new house, I totally get that it has to be that way in lots of houses where there isn't an alternative. However, all of their close relatives live within half an hour of them, so they don't have people to stay very often, and they have a big, new sofa bed for guests to use. In my opinion, if they have an occasional guest who isn't up to sleeping on a sofa bed, my ex and his fiancée should give up their own bed for the night rather than making an anxious almost-teenager share her only safe space in the house. She's told him how she feels, and he's basically told her it's tough luck.

If my dsc said they needed a safe space at my home id be devastated that they didn't feel the whole house was their safe space. Its concerning that her dad doesn't care. I really think you should knock the overnights on the head for a bit to see if that improves her mental health. Especially as she is treated differently to her brothers.

FreetheKhalo · 12/06/2022 15:33

There’s a difference between telling her an occasional guest will use her room and that she will be using the guest room. It sounds like they’ve said she’s using the guest room.

Why her room, why not the other kids room?

TechGinny · 12/06/2022 15:41

The boys have bunk beds, so that's why guests wouldn't use their room.

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SlouchingTowardsBethlehemAgain · 12/06/2022 15:42

I would see if the GP could give an official diagnosis for your daughter, perhaps even a letter for Dad and his girlfriend - it might shame them into better behaviour.

Mummyoflittledragon · 12/06/2022 15:43

I agree with TeaWithFlorence. No overnights atm to see if your DC’s mental health improves. It sounds as though it will as your ex is treating her differently for a) being like you b) being female and c) the eldest.

FreetheKhalo
I imagine as the singleton, she will get the double bed.

Mummyoflittledragon · 12/06/2022 15:44

NOT DC dd. Autocorrect.

TechGinny · 12/06/2022 15:44

TeaWithFlorence · 12/06/2022 15:32

If my dsc said they needed a safe space at my home id be devastated that they didn't feel the whole house was their safe space. Its concerning that her dad doesn't care. I really think you should knock the overnights on the head for a bit to see if that improves her mental health. Especially as she is treated differently to her brothers.

I know, it would break my heart if I had DSC who felt like that about coming to my house. I just cannot understand why you wouldn't do everything you could to understand your child's condition and make them feel comfortable in your home.

OP posts:
TechGinny · 12/06/2022 15:46

Yes, I'm going to make a GP appointment for her tomorrow and suggest to her that she stops overnights there for a while. I don't want her to feel like I'm stopping her from seeing her dad, but I hate her going there and being anxious and miserable.

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Sceptre86 · 12/06/2022 15:48

What an absolute arse. I'm fuming on her behalf. You need to have this chat sooner rather than later and I would stop the overnights now.

Innocenta · 12/06/2022 15:53

YANBU at all. I feel so sorry for your poor DD.

TechGinny · 12/06/2022 15:54

I'm tempted to send him a link to this thread to be honest, because it's impossible for us to have a calm conversation - he talks over the top of me and doesn't listen, I get angry, and we don't get anywhere. He seems to think that anything I raise as an issue about the kids is just me being a bitch to him.

OP posts: