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 have a friend who's wife left her husband and kids (pre school age) for him. They have been together for over 20 years and have 2 kids together. No idea if she sees her older kids at all.

I just remembered when I was still young, 1950s/60s my mother talking to her sister about 'that piece across the road' who had left her husband and family to live with another man, my mother commented 'she'll be back when the eldest turns 15' in other words when the eldest was working and bringing in a wage. As ever my mother was right, she tried to take the eldest away once he was earning money but I think she was unsuccessful.
When I was teaching we had a boy on the junior books of a very big football club whose father had deserted the family years earlier. When he heard that the boy was tipped to do well he contacted the club and demanded to be considered his manager and to deal with any financial matters. Don't think it worked, the boy's lovely step-father was much bigger and worked in law!

@EnterQueene
mine too, fucked me right up

Frances Spencer wanted to take her dc but her own dm, a lady in waiting, spoke against her own dd so
Earl Spencer kept the dc.

Yes. She left to be with another man. All the kids she left behind were completely fucked up by this and continued to be fucked up in adulthood. The Mother went on to have another child with the new man who was also fucked up and lived her life in bitter jealousy against her half siblings as she was jealous of them growing up with siblings.

The whole lot of them were a mess.

My mum’s close friend had an affair and ran off with the man, taking her 3 yo daughter but leaving her 9 and 13 yo sons. She openly said she never wanted boys (in front of them). She went back 2 years later when it all fell apart. He took her back because he loved her but my mum couldn’t be friends with her anymore. She kept in touch with the husband as he was a family friend too. I think she was very brazen about it. The husband was seemingly lovely, not did have Parkinson’s… for better and worse and so that though.

I knew a woman who had 3 kids in her first marriage,left him and the kids for another man,married him,had two more kids,left him and has had 2 more kids with the 3rd man (who she met at uni while she was still with her 2nd husband)

She ended up in some newspaper,proudly telling the world what she'd done-she really seemed to think she had a right to live her life the way she wanted-everyone else had to fit in with her and either like it or lump it,if her dc didn't like it,tough

The paper ripped her to bits and so did a lot of the comments

However,the one comment that stuck with her was a lady saying she wishes she could do the same and that men walk away all the time

She's now at the menopause so no more babies for her but she really should have stopped having them once her 1st marriage fell apart (she really didn't want to do the heavy lifting of childcare)

I hope she's found peace as I've never met a more judgemental woman in my life-she could do what she wanted and sod the consequences/didn't care who she hurt,but god help any other woman who did the same

yes i did this. i left the family home and (now) exH. at the time it made sense for my children (then aged 15&17) to stay in the family home to minimise disruption. the house i rented was tiny so they couldn't stay with me. but they spent 50% of their evenings / weekends etc with me, without sleeping over. did this for 18 mths when i then bought a house big enough for the 3 of us. it was the right decision and helped us as a family
navigate through some changes. they now live with me 80% of the time, exH now getting remarried (1yr post divorce, 2yrs post separation). so yes, it does happen.

Happened to my friend at school. Mother just left one day leaving two daughters (12 and 11) with their dad and never came back. She moved to the other end of the country and they only saw her once or twice a year.

It can be mental illness though. I has postpartum psychosis and then PNA after my DD1. Due to mental illness I felt like I was a danger to my child, so in my poorly brain it made sense that the kind thing to do was leave. I went to stay with my parents and had short periods of supervised (by my mum) contact with my daughter and daily visits by a mental health specialist, then returned home at weekends when DH was home from work, and then eventually full time by time she was 4 months old.

I know others will judge me, and I will never get over the guilt of that time. But DD1 is the smartest, most confident, affectionate and well balanced child, so I hope and pray it didn't do her any harm.

My mum’s cousin did this - ran off with the other man and left her daughter and husband. The nursery rang the dad as no one picked up their daughter. This was in the 70s.

My friends mum did when her parents got divorced she was 10
she had limited contact with her mum but it was always her and when my friend was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer her mum never bothered to contact her there was never any great fallout but after the cancer news and no contact my friend cut her off altogether

woman I used to work with husband lived her out after she had an affair and the kids mid and late teenagers choose to stay at there dads

i used to work in male dominated industry and there were a few RP dads with kids who saw there mum at weekend

i think it’s not really resined about as women get far more harshly judge than men for doing it

A former colleague left her husband and three children to live with her affair partner. Everyone was stunned. The children are adult now. She left when they were all at primary school. She kept contact with them to an extent but was very unreliable. Fortunately their father is a devoted father and brought them up with help from the grandparents.
I know of two other cases, one had more children with the next man then left them too. I don’t know the circumstances of the other one but their dad brought them up.

A relative did this. The oldest two DC were teens, the youngest was pre-school. I believe the mother had an affair and moved 50 miles away to be with affair partner. Sees children occasionally, her family have made it clear that they support her ex-husband.

My mum did. Left for another bloke and my dad brought us up on his own.

It's mental illness or postnatal depression when it's a woman, but a man who does it is a bastard.

Yes. She married far far far too young in the early 1970s, with no life experience and no idea how to run a household to a slightly older man whose expectation was a hausfrau so he could progress his career and keep the money coming in (different times ?!?). Then they had 4 kids in quick succession - it all blew up horribly, and she ran away with someone else, eventually triggering a horrendous protracted divorce that led to the parents getting 2 kids each (as I say - different times).
They were both at fault: two of the most self-absorbed people I've ever met. All 4 children have significant MH issues as adults - their dad was a bitter unfulfilled man who blamed his ex for everything that went wrong in his life, and their Mum goes through life taking what she wants with no thought and dealing with the fallout only when it becomes unavoidable.

Princess Diana’s mother left the children when she had an affair. Diana was 6 I believe

Sometimes they do it to escape abuse but either believe or know that they would never be able to take the children with them. Some because the child was a product of rape and didn't have access to contraception or terminations, whether that was because they weren't available at that time or because the man was so controlling, she couldn't get to access medical care.

Others who 'ran off with a man' are discovered years later buried in woods, fields or in back gardens and identified through DNA or dental records.

Names of the women who had 'walked out' and usually 'ran off with a man' in some cases include;

Linda Razzell
Maureen Hale
Carole Packman
Debbie Griggs
Lynsey Quy
Linda O'Brien
Jean Hampson

They won't be the only ones.

My mother did

My ex SiL did. She’s a strange one though, never warmed to her really.

BIL's first wife did. She was pregnant with AP's child.

Yes…to continue sleeping with my DH and later to move in with him!

(no mental illness, no PND, just a selfish determination to have what she wanted - according to her DH).

Yes, my aunt left to be with her lover. Left the teens with their Dad, probably because their school and life was there and aunt and boyfriend couldn't afford to live there . They bought a house about 4 hours away.

My grandma did. Literally walked down the garden path and never saw her kids again.
Lived in the same town the rest of her life and had another child.
It traumatised her children for life.