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Parenting

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Fixing the damage from an affair

43 replies

Brokenmom · 06/01/2019 03:39

I'm American I dont know if that matters.

First time poster here what I am going to say may make some of you angry please I hear how terrible I am all the time.

I'm 39 my Husband is also 39 and we have been married 14 years. We have one 13 year old Daughter. She has always been a daddys girl and she is the light of his life. They adore each other and I was always proud that he was such a good father to her.

A couple of years ago We got stuck in the married rut. Life became routine and boring and I started having an affair. I know there's no excuse for it. I dont want to to go into too many details of the affair It's something I've learned is pretty average and really not that different from any other affair and not at all the romantic fantasy my affair fogged brain thought it was.

A year ago I had the OM over and we were intimate when my daughter came home unexpectedly early and caught me in the act with the om. It was awful. I could see her heart break and she just burst into tears. I tried to ask her not to tell her father to let me tell him but she locked herself into her room and immediatly called her father hysterically crying.

He came home immediatly and he just had no words for me. Just an icy death stair. He immediatly went up to our daughters room and spent the next few hours calming her down while I waited for what I knew was going to be a terrible discussion. It was terrible but not because there was yelling or screaming or questions I didnt want to answer. he was icy cold. I'll never forget his words. "you betrayed me, you lied to me, You cheated on me and you humiliated me. But worst of all you broke our daughters heart and that I will never forgive you for." He didnt want to talk about it. He didnt want to work things out he just wanted me to leave. He filed for divorce a week later.

It's been a year now I have been desperate to try an repair my family and I dont know what to do. He barely talks to me and our daughter. She hates me. She wont answer my calls, she wont return my texts. We separated and if I try and see her she either gives me the silent treatment or just hysterically shrieks about how she hates me and I ruined her life. He is not trying to keep me from her but he isn't very helpful in trying to help me bridge the gap with her. He is still very angry with me. Honestly though it's easier to talk to him then he. He can still be reasonable and talk to me about things we need to take care. The only thing shes said to me the last over the last year are hysterical shouts of how much she hates me. She said she wants to live with her father after the divorce. I've tried to do the things Ive seen recommended in some infidelity sites like offer a timeline of the affair. no trickle truth, take responsibility for the affair try to heal my husband I've taken those steps. A few months ago my husband told me something. He told me one day our daughter told him she hated me and would never forgive me. He told me he didnt want our daughter to grow up harboring such hate and resentment towards me and that he couldn't teach her to forgive me if he couldn't do it. So he would try to forgive me if only to show her what that was. He said I could move back home and I moved back.

Since I have been back things have gotten worse with our daughter. She is angry I am home. She still hates me and is ultra protective of her father. If we sit on the couch next to each other she will force herself in between us and wrap herself around him. If we are alone together she will call out to her dad that she needs him, she wont let us be alone together and is always finding ways to interrupt us or take his attention. There's definitely a feeling that its them agaisnt me. She still wont speak to me beyond the hysterical shrieks of how much she hates me. She once told me I should leave because "Daddy doesn't need you, he has me, I will take your place mom. I dont need you either" I feel so terrible about this. She was never an angry child before this but now she is so filled with hate and loathing towards me.

Has anyone else gone through this? Is there anyway I can repair the damage I have done to them both? Things with my husband are hanging by a thread he acts like he barely tolerates me. He is trying but he is so hurt and angry. Forgiveness does not come easily to him at all.

TLDR Had an affair my pre teen daughter caught me its been a year and she still hates me even though her father is trying to forgive me.

OP posts:
Brokenmom · 06/01/2019 14:12

seeing her like that and knowing it was me makes me feel like a complete and utter failure as a mother. I dont know if I can live knowing how badly I hurt her.

OP posts:
WaterlooElephant · 06/01/2019 14:16

I don't think there is anything you can do. You have hurt your family in the worst way possible. It's been a year now and you are still in the same house as them, the same house you had sex with your lover in, and they are reminded of it every single day. They are still hurting, badly. Your husband remains confused as long as you stay. I don't think you can expect any progress until you move out and they can properly process everything.

You won't keep your family together, that is obvious. I am not surprised your daughter was "hysterical" or your husband was "cold". Just move out, and allow them to come to terms with their feelings.

Brokenmom · 06/01/2019 14:30

I had moved out for a year. He asked me to move back

OP posts:

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Cuntcuntcunt · 06/01/2019 14:38

You need to move out and leave her alone.

CarolDanvers · 06/01/2019 14:42

I think you need to back out ASAP and get on with your life while letting your daughter know you will always be there if she needs you. There’s really nothing else to do. It’s horrendous but self flagellation is no good for anyone. I admit I don’t know how any child could really get over that but it’s certainly never going to happen while you’re in her and her father’s face all the time.

QueenieMum · 06/01/2019 14:43

It sounds like he asked you back to see if it would help your daughter. He was thinking of her, not you or your marriage. As adults you both need to decide whether it's working and, if not, agree your next step.

You talk a lot about yourself and you are in counselling (is that what IC means?). Time to stop looking inwards, get your head out of your ass and start thinking about others and what's best for them.

SassitudeandSparkle · 06/01/2019 14:48

It does come across as very 'me', OP. It is up to your DH and DD how - and when, if at all - they come to terms with it.

This is one of those threads where I'm hoping that it's a troll because the thought of being caught in the act and your first instinct is not to comfort your daughter but cover your tracks is really grim.

Brokenmom · 06/01/2019 15:40

I wasn't trying to cover my tracks. I was trying to break the news to him myself because it should have come from me not her. She shouldn't have had to tell him and he should have heard it from me not her. I wasn't trying to hide it or asking her to keep it a secret from him. She locked herself in her room she wouldn't let me in to comfort her. All I want to do is comfort them both but they wont let me. I just want to hug her and hold her when she cries but if I even try and get close to her she lashes out. And yes I know why, and no I dont blame them. She locked herself in her room that day. I begged her to let me in even after I knew she had called her father. Its killing me to see them both in so much pain, to know its pain I gave them and cant do anything to help it. I know this is my fault. I know I am reaping what I have sown.

As for the IC yea thats individual counseling. I was following the advice from some infidelity sites I had been to that said IC should focus on what makes you so broken. I cant drag my husband and daughter to family therapy but I can at least work on making myself a better person. I have control over that I dont have control over what they will do. If he decides its best for me to leave again, and to finish the divorce and to take her. I will do it. I wont fight for custody she wants to be with him. Its not fair to her to take her from him and force her to be with me. It will only hurt them both more. I wont do that to them. I cant live with myself knowing what I've done to them. I was such a fool. Maybe it would be better if I just ended it all. They wouldn't care at this point and I just cant live with myself knowing what I've done.

OP posts:
BlueJag · 06/01/2019 15:58

You made and continue to make bad choices. Maybe will be better to move out again as you are hurting your dd everyday. You being at home isn't helping her. Give her time.
Once she is older she may understand that we all make mistakes.
Don't hurt her further by imposing your presence in her home.

mama1980 · 06/01/2019 16:22

Oh op. I'm not sure what to say. You are as you say reaping what you have sown but it does no good to pile on condemnation, it sounds as if you're all suffering plenty.
Honestly I would move out, give them both space to heal it sounds like torture for everyone right now but leave the lines of communication open.
My father had numerous affairs, none of us children have ever forgiven him but he never made any effort to apologise either.
Keep apologising, work on yourself and gently keep lines of communication open is the only advice I have.

istherelifeafter40 · 06/01/2019 21:35

OP; life is very complex. I have a different opinion to many of the posters here. I think your husband is overreacting and not helping your daughter deal with the situation. You will always remain her mother, and it is her fate that her mother is you, there is no changing that. She'll have to learn to deal with you as you are. Some people have parents with other problems, difficulties etc! Life is not rosy.

I think if your husband really wanted the best for your daughter, he would find words and talk to her in ways to make her make at least superficial peace with you. I think - I might be wrong - he is using his daughter for revenge. OK, shit happened. Shit happens! Sometimes people are so unhappy they kill themselves. I think it's much worse to have a mother that killed herself than a mother that cheated on the father.

TBH there is something wrong about your husband's relationship with the daughter - she wants to replace you? A child can't be a grown woman - he might be sending her wrong signals and using her to treat his own problems. That is not much better for her than what you've done. Some nastiness is open and visible, and other takes years to uncover and understand. I think it's good you are in therapy. I think it is not normal that a daughter is only shrieking at you after a year! her anger must be fed by her father.

istherelifeafter40 · 06/01/2019 21:38

You live a life the way you can. In fact, I am disgusted by some comments up the thread. Victorian morality, hypocrisy, self-abnegation and extreme simplification, if not stupidity. Yes, it's not good, but it is not the end of the world!

istherelifeafter40 · 06/01/2019 21:41

Sorry just can't stop adding to the threat. I have not known a single separation that was not at some moments ugly. And I think humans are egotistical beasts who use children to alleviate their hurt - women do that a lot, but men too - in this case, your husband. Just make a clean break and learn to live well. Your daughter will need to heal and sort out her relationship with her father as well as with you - and it might be more complex, and will take her more time to do the former.

istherelifeafter40 · 06/01/2019 21:42

i meant thread

istherelifeafter40 · 06/01/2019 21:44

The self-righteousness of people on this thread is unbelievable.

CatnissEverdene · 06/01/2019 21:47

My Dad had multiple affairs, and eventually left Mum for one of them.

He asked me to tell Mum he'd left. I was 13.

It's taken me around 30 years to be able to feel anything for him other than contempt.

Leave them both; you aren't going to repair either relationship with this much anger and resentment. You have to let them both heal in their own time and own way. I know that's not what you want to hear.

Fabaunt · 06/01/2019 22:03

Lol at the husband over reacting. How dare he be upset that his wife was getting fucked in his bed and in his and his child’s house, how dare he be upset that his child walked in to find another man balls deep in her mother. You cannot expect to control other people’s reactions you can only control your own behaviour and the ops behaviour has had a serious impact on her family and her being in the family home is causing untold distress

Brokenmom · 06/01/2019 23:51

We are going to talk about this tonight.

I dont want to try and place blame for this on my husband. I dont think its his fault. I did this to them and I take responsibility for my choices. He has a right to be upset. He is justified in his anger and from what I have read and heard from other wayward spouses his responses are pretty normal for a betrayed spouse. Its said it takes 2-5 years to heal from an affair. We are only a year out.

I can honestly say he loves his daughter more then anything. He would never intentionally do anything to hurt her. He is concerned with her behavior. He doesn't like to see her so hurt and filled with anger. I know it seems impossible but I do love my husband and child.

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