Have you ever known the woman to leave the family home and leave the kids behind? (title edited by MNHQ at request of the OP)

[Iliketocallthemsmilelines]

Or did you leave yourself?

It seems to be very rare, but it surely must happen

I think op you need to ask mnhq to amend your title as people are answering if they jisy left the home, as that’s whay you asked.

I know someone whose mum walked out when she was 9. No explanation, other than that she had "had enough". Her children never saw her again.

The fallout was pretty significant. The daughter that I know still struggles with it decades later. Her mental health is not good. Her dsis died by suicide in her twenties.

Of the 5 of my son's friends with divorced parents 3 of the mums left the family home and 4/5 have close to 50/50 custody

Nope. Religion, family expectations, financial circumstances, age, all also play a part.

Sorry I should have clarified, I meant leaving the kids behind

Yes - relations of mine, separated but not yet divorced.

50/50 custody.

Large family home funded, renovated and naintained by the husband.

Wife currently renting a smaller (but still lovely) home.

Plan is for husband to buy wife's share of family home, for him to then keep living there and for her to then be able to buy a house nearby, both within walking distance of the schools and each other.

(And when I say largely funded by the husband, that isn't because the wife made career sacrifices for children. She has many great qualities and skills, and has more recently changed career and is now earning well. But until that point she was low paid and not brilliant at her work, whereas he was money-driven from youth, worked harder, spent less, and invested shrewdly. I love her, but I think she's morally quite lucky to get 50% of the equity in the house, even though legally she's obviously entitled to it. And it's good they'll be able to both stay in the area)

I think it’s quite common, isn’t it? My friend left. She came to live with her small children in my spare room. The DH refused to move out.

I know someone who did. She had an affair. The H was terribly abusive. She left the children at his insistence and he frustrated contact right through to adulthood. The adult children hate him now and have a relationship with mum.

It's funny but I knew exactly what you meant, and then this 👆thread came and I thought she's not even mentioned her kids .
🫣

Yes, but it's as rare as hens bollocks.

A woman in my village used to be the dutiful little Christian wife, with 4 children with 9 years between them, stay at home mum for a decade (she was about 33,) and a lovely home all neat and pristine. Attended Church 1-2 times a week, and was a really softly spoken gentle woman.

I was gobsmacked to hear that she had run off with her friend/neighbour's husband, cleaned out the family savings of £50K, and left for Ireland, leaving all 4 children behind. The sort of thing you see on Channel 5 films and documentaries, rarely happens in real life. (IME.)

This was 7 years ago, she has never been seen since, and her husband and his mother are raising the children. He has not remarried.

Also over the years I have known 4 or 5 women walk out on the husband and school age children - sometimes for another man, sometimes just left to be on her own.

I know way WAY more men who have left over the years though. But yeah, women do it occasionally. Leave the kids and never look back. Could never do it myself; leave my children...

DP’s ex should have done after cheating on him and telling him she wanted a divorce because he was ‘boring’. But she said ‘you never hear of the mum leaving’ so she kicked him out.

we’ve been together 6 years now and he is a phenomenal partner and dad. One (wo)man’s trash etc…

I always felt bad for him losing that home though, despite 50:50 custody and living in a flat so locally, his kids never fully saw the flat as much of a home as their other house.

I sometimes wonder in my darkest moments the mums who walk out leaving their children and were never seen again, if something bad happened to her and she was always intending to return, but just had a temporary mental break 😥.

Yes i did, My ex husband was the "stay at home" Dad. He would never have left TBH. We were supposed to nest. However he played some dirty tricks for which KARMA has truly bit him on the arse.

Yes, I've known a few. One when they wree toddlers.

My polish neighbour felt under appreciated but her also Polish husband. I suspect she had pnd. She had 10yr old son and 1 yo. Husband worked full time as a builder. She left kids with me for an afternoon said she was shopping. When dad picked them up in eve he couldn't find her. She had packed her bags and headed back to Poland. She said she wanted him to experience how hard being the sole parent was. She stayed away for 12 months and then came back. I actually wondered if she'd been having an affair that just didn't work out. She has a flat nearby now but kids stayed with their dad. She has them weekends.

My friends mum left her husband with their three small DC, youngest was 3, to go and live with her lover.

She never saw them again and sent sporadic letters.

Yep. I have an (ex) friend who decided to have an affair and then left the country with the new bloke. She made some half hearted attempts to maintain a relationship with her kids but they're really not interested now they've hit their teens.

In that case I know 1.

mum left the family home leaving 4 kids with their dad. Friend of mine from school so this was the 90’s.

She drank a lot and I my friend and went every Sunday to visit her and cooked a roast dinner for her and us.

My DHs aunt did. She left to join a cult. This was in the 90s I think though

Yes my BiL wife, left for another man - left BiL with the 3 children.

My grandma left when my dad and aunt were teenagers - my grandad had been having an affair. The kids didn't know if she was alive or dead. I've never understood that decision. Although obviously my grandad was a complete arsehole.

DHs friend’s wife did, she left a baby and two toddlers and moved abroad, no contact since.

I’ve known of one - the woman left her husband and three young children and went off with the man she was having an affair with. This was in the 1950s or 60s, so even more rare in those days, I imagine, than it is now.

I know someone who works in a nursery and has had more than one occasion of the kid(s) being dropped off in the morning then not being picked up. And I don't mean not picked up that day. I mean, at all. Social services, grandparents etc having to get involved.

My mum did, left us with dad , she had an affair and left. We saw her sporadically during our childhood and our relationship has never been the same during adult hood. Not as it should be.