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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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)

592 replies

Iliketocallthemsmilelines · 14/08/2026 15:11

Or did you leave yourself?

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

OP posts:
Timeforachange26 · 18/08/2026 16:39

IwantToDatePicard · 18/08/2026 14:47

My birth mum left me when I was about 8 months old, my dad raised me. It never leaves you.

What doesn't leave you?? Asking as a person brought up by their Dad

IwantToDatePicard · 18/08/2026 16:48

Timeforachange26 · 18/08/2026 16:39

What doesn't leave you?? Asking as a person brought up by their Dad

That my birth mum didn't want the relationship I have with my daughter with me.

Timeforachange26 · 18/08/2026 16:57

IwantToDatePicard · 18/08/2026 16:48

That my birth mum didn't want the relationship I have with my daughter with me.

See it's never bothered me so it's a personal thing, not the case for everyone

croydon15 · 18/08/2026 19:36

IwantToDatePicard · 18/08/2026 14:47

My birth mum left me when I was about 8 months old, my dad raised me. It never leaves you.

So sorry

IwantToDatePicard · 18/08/2026 19:48

Thank you. I let my kids know that their mum loves them very much so they will never feel like I do.

I know everyone is different but I never called anyone mum and I love being called it !

croydon15 · 18/08/2026 19:50

ReleaseTheDucksOfWar · 18/08/2026 16:38

Did you even bother to read what I wrote?

Would you stay, knowing your children would be beaten to a pulp and sexually abused deliberately and only in order to hurt YOU?

If you would - shame on you.

Editted: I saw that woman later and saw how devastated she was at the damage done to the children. The only thing one could say is "pick the father of your children carefully". Sadly vicious men rarely come with "evil bastard" tattooed on their forehead.

Edited

You make sure that you take the children with you, if you have nowhere to go you go to a women's refuge.

ReleaseTheDucksOfWar · 18/08/2026 20:09

Do try bothering reading the thread. As has been pointed out, what do you do if the children refuse to leave?

Things just aren't as simple as your black and white world view. God help you if you ever get into a really sticky situation.

LouiseK93 · 18/08/2026 22:03

Yeah happened with friend of mine at school.
Mum left them with their father who was alcoholic when friend was 4, sister 2 and older brother 6.
Bought herself a cushty 3 bed house, never had them stay overnight or weekends. Just used to pop round to theirs Tuesday nights and they would go to hers for lunch every Sunday.
Ita baffling because normally when parents split and kids live with the mum, they still go to their dads to stay weekends, but their mum didnt even do that.

Doone22 · 19/08/2026 12:45

ReleaseTheDucksOfWar · 18/08/2026 10:39

Don't you dare judge until you've been there. Not unless you want to be judging from a position of absolute ignorant arrogance.

The close relation I knew left because the father started to beat the children in order to distress the mother.

You're judging what you don't have a clue about.

of course i dare judge - i have every right to - who the fuck leaves kids being beaten and takes themselves off? if you can leave you can take them with you

MrsBeesBakedBeans · 19/08/2026 12:50

My friends mum did when we were about 15. Hasn't spoken to her since.

ReleaseTheDucksOfWar · 19/08/2026 13:23

Doone22 · 19/08/2026 12:45

of course i dare judge - i have every right to - who the fuck leaves kids being beaten and takes themselves off? if you can leave you can take them with you

Try reading the thread carefully.

You and your attitude are a great help to the abusers.

StupidCupid50 · 19/08/2026 22:48

I did, and it’s haunted me since.

My ex was a nasty piece of work, to me. Our boys he idolised. I always felt like an outsider, it was them versus me.

Things came to a head one day and he told me if I didn’t like it I could leave. I said I was taking the boys and he refused. In the end he changed the locks to the house so I couldn’t take them.

He then proceeded to brainwash them, he’d started when we were together. I think because I left I brought shame to his family and he was embarrassed because status was everything to him. So he had to make out it was my fault, and make the boys hate me as much as he did. I almost felt used, I gave him the three sons he wanted and then I wasn’t needed. I do wonder what would’ve happened if we’d had girls.

Anyway presents were returned unopened, letters returned ripped up. I was told to leave the school grounds because he’d said stuff to the school, and I no longer received school emails.

In the end, for my sanity and mental health I had to admit defeat. I wasn’t getting anywhere and it was eating me up. I wish I hadn’t in a way, but my ex was determined to make sure I paid for leaving.

I’m now married again, with twins who are the age my youngest son was when I left. It’s brought things back in a way because soon they will be older than their brother was when I knew him.

I hope one day they will get in touch. I think about contacting them on Facebook but I’ve had enough rejection from them to last a lifetime.

ilovesushi · 20/08/2026 12:03

@StupidCupid50 that's such a heartbreaking situation. I hope you can find peace with your new family. xxx

TheGlitterFairy · 20/08/2026 22:55

My mum did. Total shit show. Not sure anyone really recovered from it tbh - even 30 odd years later. We’ve never had the relationship we should have had.

ThisOldThang · Yesterday 08:08

Vroomfondleswaistcoat · 17/08/2026 16:00

In those cases, maybe. Although sometimes the 'whereabouts are known' only by one person and they are never heard from again.

Forgive me for my cynicism, but spousal murder happens.

To be honest, I think it would have been much easier for a woman to get away with this.

"The bastard walked out and left me with three kids" wouldn't really be questioned.

Things have changed so much since the 1990's and it would be much harder to claim somebody has disappeared now than before. Previously, your only methods of contract were landline phones and mail. If you didn't have a forwarding address or new phone number, you simply had no way of contacting them. WhatsApp, email, social media, etc, have changed all that.

Vroomfondleswaistcoat · Yesterday 08:11

ThisOldThang · Yesterday 08:08

To be honest, I think it would have been much easier for a woman to get away with this.

"The bastard walked out and left me with three kids" wouldn't really be questioned.

Things have changed so much since the 1990's and it would be much harder to claim somebody has disappeared now than before. Previously, your only methods of contract were landline phones and mail. If you didn't have a forwarding address or new phone number, you simply had no way of contacting them. WhatsApp, email, social media, etc, have changed all that.

Yes, I was mostly meaning older cases rather than anything happening right now, as we were discussing what had happened in the past. I agree it would be much harder now for anyone to disappear without any investigation being launched.

But it does still happen, wasn't there a case of an elderly couple going missing? Their daughter lived in the house and told everyone that they have retired somewhere up north when in reality she and her boyfriend had killed them and buried them in the garden? I guess a lot depends on how many people would miss them, and in the case of mothers of young children I would suppose that a fair few questions would be asked.

The world was a different place before social media though.

Rocknrollstar · Yesterday 08:24

Our neighbour took the dog and left three children with her husband.

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