One mom’s perspective: “I am not the bad guy”
Nov 21st, 2007 by Jill
From Step-Family Talk:
“When I went to pick them up from their dad’s house last night they were all moppy and depressed to have to be going home with lame old mom. I can’t even begin to describe how that makes you feel. Honestly unless you’ve been in this situation it is just not a feeling you can imagine. You might think you can sympathize but you just can’t.
“So I got the whole speech about how it is much more fun and exciting at his house. And hello, I’m sure it is. He has pretty much no discipline.” (link)
This seems like such an important perspective to consider in co-parenting situations.
I think my SD does the same thing. We’re long-distance non-custodial and only see her a few times a year. But she goes home and brags to her mom that we have better “stuff” at our house. We have bigger TVs, more video game consoles, we live near the beach, etc. I understand that hearing that probably makes her mom feel bad…but I don’t understand her method of defense. She chooses to go the PAS route. She tells SD that my husband is a bad father because he should be contributing all that money to her to “share our lifestyle” with SD…but instead, we choose to buy material things for ourselves. That really angers me.