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Is telling my son he doesn't have a father the right thing to do?

38 replies

SuzyBee · 15/05/2008 11:19

I became pregnant with a man I was seeing casually, who, when I told him I was pregnant, showed little interest in me or the baby. He agreed to see his son when he was born, but didn't turn up for further visits. He has three children from his marriage, whom he is very hands on with, so he knows how to be an active parent. When my son ws six months I went back to work and asked the father to contribute towards his son, to help pay childcare fees etc. Until then he had provided nothing. He paid me maintenance and started to pay fortnightly visits to see his son. This continued for a year, then he stopped his maintenance, without saying anything to me. His reason was that as a self-employed painter and decorator, he wasn''t earning enough money. He then began cancelling his fortnightly visits at the last minute. I began to get increasingly frustrated with him, which he used as an excuse as to why he didn't visit. My bad feeling towards him was too difficult, as he put he. He then said he would not come to see his son again or pay me any money, unless I agreed to go to mediation with him. I said there was no need for mediation - all he had to do was to resume his payments and visits and I wouldn't feel so angry towards him. I refused to go to mediation and have had no contaact with him since. Now my son is nearly three aand wants to know where his daddy is. I've told him he has no daddy, but he is confused by this. Other children have daddies, why not him.
I would dearly love some advice fom other mums. I could go to mediation with the father, but I believe this is a stalling process. If he wanted relations to be good between us, why doesn't he simply pay me money and visit his son? And is telling my son that he has no father the right course of action?

OP posts:
choccypig · 15/05/2008 13:36

SuzyBee, I agree you are in a difficult situation. As I see it, the poor little chap doesn't really have a "Daddy". The man never turns up FGS!
However, he does have a Father, without whom, he wouldn't exist, and you wouldn't have your wonderful son. So it does not seem right to pretend the man doesn't exist.
I think you could say something like, "You have got a Father who doesn't live with us". Also, why not call his bluff on the mediation? Could it make things worse ?

Kewcumber · 15/05/2008 13:47

there are a number of us on MN in simialr positions, children through casual relationships with no input from father, chidlrne by onor insemination, singel adopters with no knowledge of who birth fatehr is.

Firstly as choccypig says - your DS has no Daddy but he does have a father and you need to explain that to him

Secondly the issue with mediation is a completely separate issue and you should separate it in your mind.

You need to tell him that his father wasn't able to look after him which is why his mmumy looks after him on her own.

Kewcumber · 15/05/2008 13:47

there are a number of us on MN in simialr positions, children through casual relationships with no input from father, chidlrne by onor insemination, singel adopters with no knowledge of who birth fatehr is.

Firstly as choccypig says - your DS has no Daddy but he does have a father and you need to explain that to him

Secondly the issue with mediation is a completely separate issue and you should separate it in your mind.

You need to tell him that his father wasn't able to look after him which is why his mmumy looks after him on her own.

SuzyBee · 15/05/2008 14:57

Thanks again for your responses. I am opposed to mediation because I believe it's a stalling mechanism. In the past I made every effort for my sone to maintain contact with his father. I forgave him when he cancelled, I changed my arrangements to fit in with him and I still opened the door with a smile when he was 50 minutes late and therefore could only spend 30 minutes with his son. I also accepted it takes him a week to respond to my calls - which he never takes and always lets go to voicemeail. And this was when he had already stopped paying me money, with no word of explanation or apology.
When he said he wanted mediation, it made me so resentful when I was already doing so much and he was doing so little. He would be monosyllabic towards me, refuse a cup of tea during his visits, engage as little as he could. Why does it take mediation to get to even the fist level of contact? I have told him the door is open for him to see his son, but he won't without the mediation.
That said, my son is the priority and I have made the decison to accept the father's insistence on this, if it means resurrecting contact. I hope his wish to have mediation is not a stalling tactic and I shall go into it on a positive note. That's if he chooses to return my call.

OP posts:
Kewcumber · 15/05/2008 15:02

Even if it is a stalling tactic Suzy - your DS will never feel that you haven't done everything you possibly can to facilitate contact between them.

Kewcumber · 15/05/2008 15:02

Good luck

madamez · 15/05/2008 15:03

Stop making your son suffer for his father's 'crime' of not wanting a relationship with you.

Surfermum · 15/05/2008 15:07

If he chooses to go to Court for a contact order the first thing the Court will order (IME) is that you attend mediation. You might run the risk of looking obstructive if you refuse to go either now or if it's ordered.

MinkyBorage · 15/05/2008 15:08

ime if someone refuses mediation or couples counselling, there is a good chance that they feel they my be in the wrong about something. TBH I don't blame him for wanting to go to mediation, it sounds like he has little or no power within the arrangement apart from financial, and whilst he is absolutely in the wrong to withold money, he sounds desperate. Fgs he is obviously keen to sort this out or he wouldn't want mediation.
This is not all about you, this is about your son.
Good luck

AbbeyA · 15/05/2008 15:21

I agree with everyone else, you have to put aside your own feelings and do what is best for your DS. I can't see what is wrong with mediation-seems a sensible idea.

mankymummy · 16/05/2008 08:58

Good for you Suzy, at least you know you will be doing everything in your power for the benefit of your son. Good luck.

skyatnight · 16/05/2008 10:06

It is incredibly upsetting and frustrating when you are bending over backwards to facilitate contact between father and child and the father keeps messing you both around. I can understand how people get to the point where they say enough is enough, no contact. Unfortunately it turns into a power battle between the parents - an extension of their soured relationship - and the child can end up being treated as the least important person, even if neither parent intended that to happen.

I can put myself in your position and see that you have little trust in your son's father. It might be the case that, at the time, he messed you and your son around in order to retaliate for your going ahead with the pregnancy. I think some men find it very difficult that they have no choice in the matter as to whether their (ex-)partner terminates a pregnancy or has the child. And they behave badly to try and assert their will over the situation. I don't know if this is true in your and your ex's case or not. It's not nice for either of you but it happens.

He suggested mediation at the time. It could have just been another stalling tactic, to annoy you, or it could have been a genuine request because he felt that you both needed to involve a third party in order to stabilise your relationship and the matter of the contact visits and maintenance. If things got heated between you (which I assume they did), many men just can't or won't handle an angry woman scorned. They refuse to deal with all the emotions. He may also have needed time to adjust to what had happened. You had no choice as you were pregnant and then had your son, you had to get on with it. In my experience, and at the risk of being sexist and patronising to men, yet again, some men tend to take a lot longer to get their heads around a situation like this.

He already has children with someone else. Presumably he already has maintenance to pay to them and makes time to see them. Sad to say it but, from his point of view, your child further 'complicates' matters for him and his lack of control was difficult for him. It is easier for him to just 'opt out'. We may find this appalling and incomprehensible but not everyone feels the same way.

It is fine to say that everyone should behave well and parents have a duty to their children. This is how it should be but sometimes isn't when the circumstances are difficult. You and he had a conflict of interest. I am in a somewhat similar situation so I do understand.

At the end of the day, as others have said, you must be honest with your son that he has a father. You want to protect him and yourself but this issue won't go away and needs to be revisited. Now is a good time because a couple of years have elapsed, things should have calmed down, he has had enough time to get his head around the situation. It is important that you do the right thing because if you don't, it will weigh on you and you will be stuck with the angry feelings indefinitely and the burden of worrying whether you did the right thing. If you behave immaculately, you will not have any guilt about your part in this and you will feel at peace that you did everything that you could to do the best for your son.

So I would contact him again and suggest mediation. Be patient for a while (say 6 months) but then, if he keeps delaying or messing you around again repeatedly or refuses, then you will know that you were right and it is his problem. Your son can try and make contact with him when he is older if he wants to.

But, if he responds, you may find yourself on the way to a better situation where there is contact between father and son and everybody is happier. It is very hard to open up again and to try to trust when you have been treated badly but the only way to try to improve things is to be patient and give a little. That way you put the onus on him. While you are being angry and refusing contact, he can blame it all on you but if you take away all his excuses, call his bluff, it can become clear whether he cares about his son or not. This is the point you need to get to. Your son need not get hurt in this process and you don't need to tell him anything until it becomes clear whether there is going to be contact or not.

There is no point expecting the father to see his son every weekend and pay maintenance and be the perfect father and ex-partner. He should be this but life isn't perfect and people aren't either, some a lot worse than others. You can't change this, you have to settle for what you can get, put your hurt aside and make it just about your son and his father. If he sees your son once a month and perhaps pays a bit of maintenance, that would be a result. You will always know that you tried your best. If things never improve and the father of your child ends up messing him around, at least your child will learn this for himself rather than fantasising about a mystery father.

Sorry, very long-winded.

tappy · 16/05/2008 12:34

i have a simalr situation but i have a daughter who is now 10. her father played a small part of her life for the first year then either didnt turn up or was late. eventuallyhe didnt come at all and by this time i was glad as i feel it mixes kids up more when they dont know where they are. at the age of 3 i told my daughter she had no daddy and she used to say this just as matter of fact. it wasnt my daughter or other kids that had problem with it , it was adults teachers etc. but i felt like daughter ok with it so that fine.when she reached 6 thats when questions were different so i told as much of the truth as i felt she needed now at 10 she knows most of it and can handle it much better but i dont regret for a min telling her she didnt have father as it worked for her at the time

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