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"you treat me as an inflatable father!"

8 replies

cestlavielife · 19/05/2010 14:11

"you treat me as an inflatable father!" is what he said -

?is this a new Fathes for justice phrase?

i did ask what does this mean and he mumbled and said "well you know like a "sperm donor"..."

was during a so-called mediation meeting. which was disaster, he simply ranted on about what i said or didnt say to him on partiucalr days in 2007 and in 2008, blamed me for everything, etc same old story...

threw my written proposed schedule of contact for summer hols back saying "this is just you imposing your will" to which mediator said brightly "well it is a starting point"...

anyway, it wasn't a disaster really from my pov, i stayed calm ..it just confirmed its not worth trying... he is so angry and entrenched in blame....i emailed the "mediator" to say so and she agreed with me!

she is someone he proposed from his church - i had grave misgivings with her being his proposal... but it turns out she has some experience of MH issues and has turned out to be useful in that she sees thru him...

OP posts:
scurryfunge · 19/05/2010 14:12

I think he means you keep letting him down

NicknameTaken · 19/05/2010 14:39

Carry a long pin.

God, I wish my ex was an inflatable father.

gillybean2 · 19/05/2010 17:25

I would say that a first session is always going to be about exploding, saying the stuff you've kept inside and venting. Which he seems to have done. Made all the more frustrating for him by your refusal to react to it.

Do you not think it might be worth trying one more time for your dc's sake? He is angry and hurt aftr all and has hopefully done his venting now. Plus it's clearly not winning him any favours to do so with the mediator either so if he does it next session then you can say with more certainty it's not worth further sessions.

On the other hand he may go away and read your proposal and talk to other people who make him realise he's being unreasonable and needs to consider the children not just his own pain. And so maybe (just maybe) next time will be a bit better. Who knows!

Also do you have written confirmation from the mediator that it is not worth further mediation and better yet that this is because of your ex's behaviour and unreasonableness? If not make sure you get it (not sure email is enough as easy to fake) as you will find it helps in court when they try and impose mediation on you at that point.

cestlavielife · 19/05/2010 23:15

is a nice thought - that he is "angry and hurt" (poor love) ...when i was forced to move out with DCs due to his violence and controlling abuse (but i realise without the back story it appears different...)

this was second session.... the first was mostly about him refusing to admit he had assaulted ds's carer..."if you want to know what happened speak to the police"

but - have been there before in 2008 (family therapy sessions ...it got nowhere he got more and more angry then too !)...

really he has been angry/hurt for many many years. it aint new...

me thinks he doesnt want to mediate - he wants to try and regain control and find a place to get access to abuse/blame me ... which he has lost coz i moved out in 2008...

he also got mad because i said there was no way i could live next door to him (we have a rented out flat next door to the one he living in, which i want to sell and am applying to court for sale; he doesnt work so cannot buy me out...). apart from anything else it doesnt have a garden whereas the rented flat i living in with DCs does - they love having trampoline etcetc. but in his view i should give up the quiet street and garden and move in next door to him, with no garden and view of the car park and on a main road..."for the children".

anyway she isnt an official registered profressional mediator - tho has some relevant background - so carries no weight really?

OP posts:
HanBanan · 20/05/2010 09:45

hahaha that's brilliant, p'raps that's because he's full of hot air....

gillybean2 · 20/05/2010 09:46

Would still get it in writting.
And it does sound like not worth trying again given the additional info you've given. What is the next step though? What was the mediation aiming to achieve/avoid...?

cestlavielife · 20/05/2010 11:17

well... i am applying to court for sale of both joint owned flats to sort out financial separation - so i naively thought these meetings could iron out time scales and things so we could go to first hearing in coupe months with agreement to sign and avoid further hearings!

  • he does the "i have proposals but i am not going to tell you" line - then comes out with the sugggestion i move into the rented flat. so i cant see any agreement before a hearing...

also on contact issues - he wants to "see them every day" which just wont work. contact with dds is increasing but he believes that i am preventing them sleeping over - is not the case - i ask them if they want to and they say "not yet" "only if someone else does as well". when they do want to i happy for them to go... it's been a long slow road from supervised contact centre in 2009... and i aint gonna rush it for them.

court order is for supervised contact with unsupervised at my discretion...ie was aimed at moving towards unsupervised...but i have option to go back to supervised if it aint working. for dds yes unsupervised is going ok for now; for ds autistic no it isnt...

with oldest ds who is autistic - well first exP attacked his carer making it awkward, he refuses to have any of the carers in his house except one, and few weeks ago ds escaped from his place and was found - several streets away -

so i have said - he goes supervised (as epr court order) until you fit extra security, chains and new locks, (he escaped via a flimsy balcony gate with isecure lock) . he stated in front of the mediator lady "i dont want to fit security chains". "if you want them fitted you come and fit them" . errr no - you want your ds to vsit, you make it safe and secure...

this is also the person who went to sleep leaving dd 10 responsible for DS!

oh and he also brought along PR forms for me to sign as he doesnt have PR.

ultimately i will sign for the girls (and if he goes to court i wont have strong arguments against - other than he makes no financial contribution at all...) but i feel very
strongly he does not have best interests of ds at heart - eg refusing to take responsibility for ensuring his safety.

he does not want to "mediate" - he just wants to bully his point, rehash the past (to his version of how i removed the children from him over a whim to be nasty - rather than because of his violence and agression), blame me for his depression/life etc.

he did a very classic thing - to show how much his ds loves him/make me "submit" - he said "well the other day we were both at a school event, now you (pointing finger at me ) tell her (at mediator) what ds did when he saw me?"

(ie i was supposed to say "ds introduced dad to his teachers, it was so nice; exP is so fantastic!" )
i said - i dont know what you getting at.

he says "tell her! go on! you tell her what happened"

i looked blank...

mediator said - well why dont you say what happened and then she can say if she agrees or not?

he was quite miffed - said "well, ds introduced me to his teachers, signed this is my dad..."

i said yes he did (so what? what else would he do? is no big deal...).

(score to me for not falling for it...- he really wanted to make me say stuff to make him look "good" in his eyes)

i have said to mediator - if you can get commitment from him not to talk about the past and what i said or didnt say , did do or didnt do, in 2009, 2008, 2007 etc - and if he can commit to discussing now and the future - then i will attend again.

otherwise, no. and if he does agree but then starts bullying/finger pointing/shouting/staing "but i want..." rather than "what about...." or "this is my proposal..." or saying "in 2008 you did this to me!!" i will walk out...

OP posts:
DollyPants · 21/05/2010 23:46

my exh and I would actually get on OK before we went into mediation, then we'd want to kill each other after. It's not for everyone.

When we went to see CAFCASS my exdh did the same as yours, went into what I said once 6 years ago, he just seemed to want someone to tell me off for something.

I called her afterwards and explained that I had been VERY restrained in not responding to this. She agreed. I told her that if she put the histrionics in her report then I demanded the right to reply. She assured me she couldn't stand that either.

I'd give up on the mediation cestlavielife it's not getting you anywhere. The problem is that some people see it as a kind of marriage guidance revenge rather than a way to move the contact forward. You don't need to discuss anything other than contact, keep to that.

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