Hi all,
Im a full time single dad with an 8 year old.
My story is long, weird and wonderful, however I will break it down as much as I can.
I had my daughter from a fling 9 years ago and it was a no brainer for me to stand up to the plate.
My daughter was being raised in Gloucester and I lived in St Albans (north of London). I always had a suspicion that she was not being raised properly, but the mother done a substantial job of hiding what really was going on.
Eventually when she was 6 social services were involved for the 3rd time, so I made the decision to activate my PR and take on my daughter on a full time basis.
At that time I was living with my Ex Girlfriend in Peterborough and when she was arrived and stayed with me for a prolonged period of time I noticed how damaged she was, as the mother was only interested in getting laid and partying, the kids always came second to her lifestyle and were just dumped infront of the TV or tablets.
At that point me and my Ex Girlfriend were already having problems, we had only been living together for a few months, but had been in relationship for 2 years. She kinda turned onto a monster when we lived together and stopped her sweet innocent act...
It was a tough time when she moved in with me in 2016, she didn't know boundaries and was rude, she had anger problems and my Ex girlfriend was quite abrupt with her, even though she was a lot easier on her boy who was the master of acting great in front of adults, but naughty when he's in groups of kids or just with my daughter.
However in 2017 she got a lot better and was having a good life in Peterborough, she was studying well, playing well, had good manners, we went on holidays, she had a lot of clubs that she went too and for the first time in her life she was having a normal childhood...
However my Ex Girlfriend and I wasn't getting on, everything was for the kids and I was in the spare room for much of 2017. My Ex used to often belittle me, she even had hit me, she would go to good lengths to wind me up and then play victim and just was a bit of a bad egg, but in 2017 she was a lot better with my daughter.
My daughter loved living in Peterborough and built up famous rapports with friends, neighbours, My Ex's boy, My Ex and all my Ex's family... But I was slowly dying inside.
In October me and my daughter moved back to my home town and started from scratch and at first she seemed to be handling it well, it was her 4th primary school and she was being mostly good, however over the last couple of weeks her behaviour has regressed almost to the point of when she first moved in with me.
She is falling out with schoolmates, been acting weird at after school club, she answers me back and speaks down to me like my Ex used to, throws tanturms when its time to read or do Homework, tries to correct me when I talk, pretends she don't hear me when I talk (another thing my Ex used to do), she actually won't listen to me at time and has started to become quite rude to people... Not like a problem child, but she is heading in that direction and has been picking up pace.
This week I stopped all her playstation and Tablet time and have put up a chore and behaviour chart, which we are in day 2 of today?
Any support of you lovely fine women would be appreciated