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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

I have a right to know if my ex has a girlfriend!

182 replies

Laughro · 04/08/2023 10:37

To preface, my ex is extremely awkward, and always has been. He still holds a huge grudge about me splitting up with him 6 years ago, and is very combative towards me. Despite me trying to have a civil relationship with him and co-parent DS (8) as best I can, he takes every opportunity to express his bitterness, be rude to me and generally make life difficult. I've moved on with a new DP, successful business and a new baby on the way, while he is still in the same position he was 6 years ago, which he constantly weaponises and expects sympathy for. He constantly brings up the past in conversations and things that happened years ago. This extends to him always attempting to avoid and do as little of his parental responsibilities as possible, including never having our DS overnight since we split up.

Due to his behaviour, he does not have a great relationship with DS. He only sees DS every other weekend and sporadically in the holidays, but never overnight at his own place. He doesn't have a suitable place to have DS because he has lived in house shares with random people since we split up. On his weekends, DS and him do the same routine, and often end up spending hours sat in his car as my ex does not want to spend the money on day trips and again, doesn't have a suitable home environment to take DS. He's also very strict with DS, and doesn't understand his struggles with ASD and ADHD (despite me explaining them) so he constantly tells him to 'make eye contact and look at him' and belittles him for not being able to listen and follow instructions well. All in all, DS doesn't like his dad, expresses this often and says every weekend that he doesn't want to see him.

Last night, ex-DP announced he would be having DS overnight from October as he would be moving out of his house share and in with a friend. I asked who this friend was, and he said it was a woman called 'Anna'. I know of Anna, he met her on Tinder and had previously told me about dating her. I asked if that meant Anna was his girlfriend, to which he went on a texting rant about how I have no right to know if it is romantic or not, and I have double standards as I have introduced DS to ex partners, and essentially he did what he always does which is bring up things from years ago. I told him that I don't care who he is dating, all I care about are things that impact on DS, and as DS has never met Anna before, actually it is pertinent information if ex-DP is moving in with his girlfriend that DS has never met or heard about and they are expecting to launch DS straight into overnight stays with them both. I told him it's inappropriate for DS to be staying overnight frequently with someone he has never met, doesn't know, has never heard about and yes it makes a difference whether they are romantically involved or not (only from the perspective of DS, who I know will be confused and uncomfortable in this situation). I do not feel comfortable with DS staying overnight, given these circumstances, and the attitude of my ex-DP.

This morning I've had a huge text message paragraph about how unreasonable I am, being incredibly rude to me, and again bringing up things from years ago. AIBU to think I have a right to know this sort of information, in these circumstances, and my ex-DP is just once again being an idiot?

OP posts:
AlfietheSchnauzer · 05/08/2023 13:45

Herewegoagain2023 · 04/08/2023 10:54

If it was the other way round and the OP said she was going to have a bloke stay over whom her son had never even been introduced to, there would be a pile on.

THIS THIS THIS!!!!!!!!!!!

AlfietheSchnauzer · 05/08/2023 13:48

LakeTiticaca · 04/08/2023 11:09

I would want to know who my child was staying overnight with.
How many children have been abused and killed by the step parent, with yet another one in the news just this week.
Call me melodramatic if you wish but I stand by my opinion

Completely agree. My child will never have a stepmother but if she did, the very first time she met her, would not be sleeping over at her house! Nor would/will she be sleeping over at any new partner I have's house on the first day they meet! Obviously

AlfietheSchnauzer · 05/08/2023 14:06

Laughro · 04/08/2023 11:38

I'm not sure why people think this has anything to do with my ex-DP moving on, he had a girlfriend in the past and I was very happy for him. She had a positive impact on DS and my ex-DP, it gave him focus away from being disrespectful to me and I also believe she had a good impact on his parenting. This relationship was introduced and nurtured in an appropriate way.

The issue is that my ex-DP isn't putting DS first, or even considering him in this. New partner's should be introduced slowly and with consideration. If you want to introduce a new partner very quickly, that's still very unfair on the child, but it's a whole new level of inappropriate and unfair to suddenly expect your child to stay overnight every other weekend with a new partner they have never met, not even heard about and will be sharing a living space with. I do think the responses to this thread would be very different if I was suggesting I move in with my boyfriend, whom my DS had never met, and my DS was to start having overnights from the off with us both.

I am very concerned about my ex's treatment of our DS, and it has been the cause of many battles and fights. I find myself constantly sticking up for DS and arguing with my ex-DP on his behalf, trying to have conducive conversations with my ex about why DS would feel uncomfortable with forced eye contact, how it's not good for him to spend all day in a car, how their relationship has been affected and how upset it makes DS at times. I've had these conversations time and time again, tirelessly. When you are dealing with someone who is wholly unreasonable, and can't see beyond the hatred and vendetta they have for you, it is extremely difficult. In the past, when I've thought about what I can do to protect DS, I've been told I can't stop contact, I'd be taking him away from his dad, I need to let DS decide for himself when he's older etc.

I can't do right!

OP ignore the virtue signallers they're just doing the whole "OP is always in the wrong no matter what but we're perfect" bandwagon and picking up on the most minutiae of details to chuck mud at you.

NOBODY would allow their young child to sleep on a communal sofa alone (potentially on a different floor of the building to their DF) in a house share with a load of random blokes having free access to them. Not in a million years!!!!! It would most definitely be considered negligent.
But of course on here, they'll try to claim there's nothing wrong with it" & cling on to that tiny perceived 'error' of yours(!) & hyper focus on it in order to imply that you've prevented overnight contact and give you a load of abuse & deflect. It's typical. Absolutely typical!

Anyway, a friend was in a similar situation as you and was advised by a solicitor to contact social services if they felt there was any concern whatsoever that the child's wellbeing wasn't being considered. Apparently it doesn't have the same 'threshold' for intervention as a general third party report to Social Services for child protection etc. Reports from RP re: NRPs are apparently usually always looked into although that may just be my area's specific policy. Best of luck

Hawkins009 · 05/08/2023 14:33

Laughro · 04/08/2023 11:38

I'm not sure why people think this has anything to do with my ex-DP moving on, he had a girlfriend in the past and I was very happy for him. She had a positive impact on DS and my ex-DP, it gave him focus away from being disrespectful to me and I also believe she had a good impact on his parenting. This relationship was introduced and nurtured in an appropriate way.

The issue is that my ex-DP isn't putting DS first, or even considering him in this. New partner's should be introduced slowly and with consideration. If you want to introduce a new partner very quickly, that's still very unfair on the child, but it's a whole new level of inappropriate and unfair to suddenly expect your child to stay overnight every other weekend with a new partner they have never met, not even heard about and will be sharing a living space with. I do think the responses to this thread would be very different if I was suggesting I move in with my boyfriend, whom my DS had never met, and my DS was to start having overnights from the off with us both.

I am very concerned about my ex's treatment of our DS, and it has been the cause of many battles and fights. I find myself constantly sticking up for DS and arguing with my ex-DP on his behalf, trying to have conducive conversations with my ex about why DS would feel uncomfortable with forced eye contact, how it's not good for him to spend all day in a car, how their relationship has been affected and how upset it makes DS at times. I've had these conversations time and time again, tirelessly. When you are dealing with someone who is wholly unreasonable, and can't see beyond the hatred and vendetta they have for you, it is extremely difficult. In the past, when I've thought about what I can do to protect DS, I've been told I can't stop contact, I'd be taking him away from his dad, I need to let DS decide for himself when he's older etc.

I can't do right!

So how would you have preferred he introduced ds ?

x2boys · 05/08/2023 15:58

AlfietheSchnauzer · 05/08/2023 13:48

Completely agree. My child will never have a stepmother but if she did, the very first time she met her, would not be sleeping over at her house! Nor would/will she be sleeping over at any new partner I have's house on the first day they meet! Obviously

But the Op.moved her new partner in .

TimeToMoveIt · 05/08/2023 20:06

Well op didn't just move her partner in without him ever meeting the child first

CornishGem1975 · 05/08/2023 20:53

Completely agree. My child will never have a stepmother but if she did, the very first time she met her, would not be sleeping over at her house! Nor would/will she be sleeping over at any new partner I have's house on the first day they meet! Obviously

How do you know Confused I didn't think mine would either, but here we are. And you'd have no say over where they slept either.

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