So children had their contact at the weekend, due back at 6.00. I get a phonecall at 4.30 saying ds hasn't been well all day, shall he bring them back early. This was the first I'd heard about ds not being well and he expects me to be available immediately for kids to come home. So I told him to bring them back in half an hour which he did.
The previous contact he brought the children back an hour early without letting me know that this was what he was doing to do and I had to explain to him that it might have been upsetting for the kids if I hadn't have been there.
So he knows his son isn't well but then doesn't contact me at all yesterday to find out how he is - not even a text. I sat in the same room with him at a mediation session this morning and he still doesn't ask how his son is (I have been up half the night with both children being ill). And he sits there and says how much he cares for his children.
I have also reluctantly agreed to him taking the kids to N Ireland in the Easter holidays and he then says he could just take ds and not dd - it doesn't seem to occur to him that this could be upsetting for both children.
It's like they only exist when they are with him. He doesn't seem to think about how things might affect the kids' feelings.
Is this normal behaviour from a NRP?
I am finding it hard to encourage my kids to have a relationship with a parent who is demonstrating such little understanding of their feelings.
He also doesn't seem to be able to see why he should be contributing financially towards his children.