Last night I had a huge argument with my e-wife over my daughter. I probably hadn’t had more than a few conversations to my ex wife in almost 9 years prior to this, my arrangement to see my daughter had been abided by civilly and there had been no need to speak. She had also been emotionally abusive and controlling toward the end of our marriage.
I really don’t have anyone to turn to or ask advice so I may be making a mountain out of a mole hill but after the argument finished last night (the highlight of which was her partner threatening to beat me up) I realised the whole thing had been on speaker phone with my daughter present who is 9.
I see my daughter 2 days a week. She used to have sleepovers when she was younger but as she grew she became very difficult and would wake up or not settle and start crying hysterically for her mum. (she sleeps in her mums bed now and always has so that might be some contributing factor).
Anyway, everything was going smoothly until around 1 year ago. My daughter had put on a considerable amount of weight and I approached my exwife about it. At this time my ex wife was still able to talk to me in a relatively civil manner and she admitted that it was her fault, she had been giving into my daughters demands for sweets and such and she would make some changes to get her back into a healthy regime.
Every now and then my daughter has a kind of heart to heart / informational / emotional dump on me. Its often quite innocent stuff that she wants to ask or tell me but its of a different tone to a normal conversation.
Part way through last year these dumps became quite concerning. She would say “mummy and (partner) are always arguing” “(partner) shouted at me for no reason”. “mummy says she has had enough and is leaving (partner) and we will move out”. “mummy says she cant afford a pension” “will mommy run out of money one day”.
And worryingly an ongoing thing she is often saying is “mommy told me not to tell you”. “mummy told me not to tell you but secrets are wrong and I cant hold it in”.
Lately thought these discussions have ceased. So I am wondering if her mother has really put big pressure on her not to tell me things.
There were also various other issues with my daughter having confidence to go to new places and try new things. I had planned a trip to London for example. And my daughter told me she would love to go, so I book tickets and plan the day, then the day before when I come to pick her up her mum tells me she doesn’t want to go. Later when its me and my daughter alone I ask her why she changed her mind and she said that mummy told her the train carriages are really busy. The same thing happened with a trip to Go Ape. My daughter was all for it, then the day we were due to go she starts crying with many other trips and days out. Her mother says things and it scares off my daughter.
Mid way through last year a very odd situation occurred – my daughter had started crying when she was being dropped off for school. This got worse and she started crying when I came to pick her up. I believe it was separation anxiety from being apart from her mother. However, one morning my daughter was hysterical being dropped for school and she had to be taken to the head masters office. My daughter then released a string of odd stories blaming me for her crying. Saying things like that I had made her pick up broken glass one day (I mean this never happened or anything like it) and that I had refused to let her stay for a sleepover and some other random things. It was enough for the school to call my ex wife. My ex wife called me and again, at this time she was civil and told me what happened – she was sympathetic and said she knows my daughter was not telling the truth because I am a good dad and she knows I wouldn’t do that etc. Neither of us could work out what the hell had occurred. I suggested I would pay for some counselling for my daughter but my exwife refused.
Fast forward to the end of last year and I meet a new girlfriend. Its been quite a new and exciting thing for my daughter – they get on really well. My girlfriend is quite a lot younger than my ex-wife so I guess my daughter can relate to her in a different way.
So, a few weeks ago I had to mention my daughters health to my ex wife again, all the weight she lost and more had been put back on over the last few months. My ex wifes response was a bit less civil this time, I had written a long letter to her about my concerns and the reasons why and emailed it. She just text back “being taken care of my end” or something like that. Followed up with a few jabs about how I had taken her to eat fast food recently.
The build up to the big argument happened last week, when my new girlfriend had mentioned she was going to visit a friend. We had planned to take my daughter up there for a day as we recently had taken her out near there to the zoo for a day and she had loved it. She was really excited and when she found out that I was going to spend the night up there she even suggested she might be interested in doing the same. I said I would have to ask mummy and I said that she needed to be sure she wanted to do it as there would be no way I could bring her home if she started crying for mummy in the night. She said she wouldn’t.
So, I drop her back and the send my ex wife a message later advising I would like to take my daughter over night to stay in a nice house, she would have her own room and plenty of space etc. The response I got back was quite shocking. I was berated for even thinking such as thing. Told it would be really irresponsible and basically abusive towards me.
I advised that I am the father of our child and have just as much rights to my daughter staying with me. And her response was to tell me that my daughter didn’t want to go anyway. And that my daughter only told me she wanted to go because she was scared I would shout at her if she didn’t. Believe me, this is not true and my daughter knows it – I think I only ever shouted at her once in her life – I am as laid back as its possible to be. So, the fact that my daughter was lying to her mum deeply concerned me.
Anyway, this unfortunately led to an exchange of nasty messages. My ex wife suddenly a very different person from a couple months ago. Itching for an argument and provoking me all the tools in her arsenal. I was exasperated by my daughter saying she was scared of me and her mum then had lots of fuel to call me a terrible parent etc that my daughter was scared of me etc, which she knows damn well isn’t true. Anyway, this died down after a while. But my ex wife told my daughter to tell me that I wasn’t allowed to come to her front door any more as she “didn’t want to see my face”. I only discovered this the next time I came to drop my daughter off. My daughter wouldn’t let me go to the door!
So, yesterday I pick my daughter up as normal. We go trampolining, I take her to visit my her cousin and my parents and she plays lots of games and has a whale of a time. Unfortunately she got shouted at for being naughty by my dad who is an ex teacher with a very loud voice - she is probably exhausted as her cousin is full on – she had a few tears but was fine by the time I took her back.
Driving home nasty messages start pinging through on my phone. “your daughter is in teers yet again when you drop her off” “she wants to start coming home earlier” “she doesn’t want to spend this long with you” etc.
I stop the car and message back that she is just exhausted and is having a wobble and all will be fine tomorrow. The messages continue so I decide to pick up the phone in the car and ring her.
I want to explain that my daughter is just tired and that my ex wife is not getting the full picture – that my daughter complains when it is time to go home. She is happy to stay with me as long as she can. The phone rings and I start trying to talk. I just get barraged with a ton of abuse. She will not listen to a word I say. And is a completely different person to whom I was discussing things with a couple months ago. The level of hate and anger is shocking to me.
I try and explain that our daughter tells us each a different story because she is just trying to please whatever parent she is with. Her response is to grab our daughter and put her on the phone, clearly full of tears my daughter says “I want to come back earlier from now on”. I say the my ex that of course she is going to say that when you put her under pressure. I call my wife an idiot. There is then suddenly a new voice on the line. “don’t you call her an idiot, you drive back here right now im going to come outside and kick your head in.. come back right now and lets have it etc.” These threats continue for a short while, Then my ex comes back on the phone “you need to listen to your daughter – shes telling you what she wants” etc. I realise I am never going to get anything but abuse and threats so hang up. Now, the day after I am wondering what to do. Is there any legal avenue I could take. Or ?
I know this is a book but I wanted to get as much context down as I could.
Anybody, who had read all this and responds probably deserves a medal! But anyone who does – It is very much greatly appreciated.
I really don’t have anyone to turn to or ask advice so I may be making a mountain out of a mole hill but after the argument finished last night (the highlight of which was her partner threatening to beat me up) I realised the whole thing had been on speaker phone with my daughter present who is 9.
I see my daughter 2 days a week. She used to have sleepovers when she was younger but as she grew she became very difficult and would wake up or not settle and start crying hysterically for her mum. (she sleeps in her mums bed now and always has so that might be some contributing factor).
Anyway, everything was going smoothly until around 1 year ago. My daughter had put on a considerable amount of weight and I approached my exwife about it. At this time my ex wife was still able to talk to me in a relatively civil manner and she admitted that it was her fault, she had been giving into my daughters demands for sweets and such and she would make some changes to get her back into a healthy regime.
Every now and then my daughter has a kind of heart to heart / informational / emotional dump on me. Its often quite innocent stuff that she wants to ask or tell me but its of a different tone to a normal conversation.
Part way through last year these dumps became quite concerning. She would say “mummy and (partner) are always arguing” “(partner) shouted at me for no reason”. “mummy says she has had enough and is leaving (partner) and we will move out”. “mummy says she cant afford a pension” “will mommy run out of money one day”.
And worryingly an ongoing thing she is often saying is “mommy told me not to tell you”. “mummy told me not to tell you but secrets are wrong and I cant hold it in”.
Lately thought these discussions have ceased. So I am wondering if her mother has really put big pressure on her not to tell me things.
There were also various other issues with my daughter having confidence to go to new places and try new things. I had planned a trip to London for example. And my daughter told me she would love to go, so I book tickets and plan the day, then the day before when I come to pick her up her mum tells me she doesn’t want to go. Later when its me and my daughter alone I ask her why she changed her mind and she said that mummy told her the train carriages are really busy. The same thing happened with a trip to Go Ape. My daughter was all for it, then the day we were due to go she starts crying with many other trips and days out. Her mother says things and it scares off my daughter.
Mid way through last year a very odd situation occurred – my daughter had started crying when she was being dropped off for school. This got worse and she started crying when I came to pick her up. I believe it was separation anxiety from being apart from her mother. However, one morning my daughter was hysterical being dropped for school and she had to be taken to the head masters office. My daughter then released a string of odd stories blaming me for her crying. Saying things like that I had made her pick up broken glass one day (I mean this never happened or anything like it) and that I had refused to let her stay for a sleepover and some other random things. It was enough for the school to call my ex wife. My ex wife called me and again, at this time she was civil and told me what happened – she was sympathetic and said she knows my daughter was not telling the truth because I am a good dad and she knows I wouldn’t do that etc. Neither of us could work out what the hell had occurred. I suggested I would pay for some counselling for my daughter but my exwife refused.
Fast forward to the end of last year and I meet a new girlfriend. Its been quite a new and exciting thing for my daughter – they get on really well. My girlfriend is quite a lot younger than my ex-wife so I guess my daughter can relate to her in a different way.
So, a few weeks ago I had to mention my daughters health to my ex wife again, all the weight she lost and more had been put back on over the last few months. My ex wifes response was a bit less civil this time, I had written a long letter to her about my concerns and the reasons why and emailed it. She just text back “being taken care of my end” or something like that. Followed up with a few jabs about how I had taken her to eat fast food recently.
The build up to the big argument happened last week, when my new girlfriend had mentioned she was going to visit a friend. We had planned to take my daughter up there for a day as we recently had taken her out near there to the zoo for a day and she had loved it. She was really excited and when she found out that I was going to spend the night up there she even suggested she might be interested in doing the same. I said I would have to ask mummy and I said that she needed to be sure she wanted to do it as there would be no way I could bring her home if she started crying for mummy in the night. She said she wouldn’t.
So, I drop her back and the send my ex wife a message later advising I would like to take my daughter over night to stay in a nice house, she would have her own room and plenty of space etc. The response I got back was quite shocking. I was berated for even thinking such as thing. Told it would be really irresponsible and basically abusive towards me.
I advised that I am the father of our child and have just as much rights to my daughter staying with me. And her response was to tell me that my daughter didn’t want to go anyway. And that my daughter only told me she wanted to go because she was scared I would shout at her if she didn’t. Believe me, this is not true and my daughter knows it – I think I only ever shouted at her once in her life – I am as laid back as its possible to be. So, the fact that my daughter was lying to her mum deeply concerned me.
Anyway, this unfortunately led to an exchange of nasty messages. My ex wife suddenly a very different person from a couple months ago. Itching for an argument and provoking me all the tools in her arsenal. I was exasperated by my daughter saying she was scared of me and her mum then had lots of fuel to call me a terrible parent etc that my daughter was scared of me etc, which she knows damn well isn’t true. Anyway, this died down after a while. But my ex wife told my daughter to tell me that I wasn’t allowed to come to her front door any more as she “didn’t want to see my face”. I only discovered this the next time I came to drop my daughter off. My daughter wouldn’t let me go to the door!
So, yesterday I pick my daughter up as normal. We go trampolining, I take her to visit my her cousin and my parents and she plays lots of games and has a whale of a time. Unfortunately she got shouted at for being naughty by my dad who is an ex teacher with a very loud voice - she is probably exhausted as her cousin is full on – she had a few tears but was fine by the time I took her back.
Driving home nasty messages start pinging through on my phone. “your daughter is in teers yet again when you drop her off” “she wants to start coming home earlier” “she doesn’t want to spend this long with you” etc.
I stop the car and message back that she is just exhausted and is having a wobble and all will be fine tomorrow. The messages continue so I decide to pick up the phone in the car and ring her.
I want to explain that my daughter is just tired and that my ex wife is not getting the full picture – that my daughter complains when it is time to go home. She is happy to stay with me as long as she can. The phone rings and I start trying to talk. I just get barraged with a ton of abuse. She will not listen to a word I say. And is a completely different person to whom I was discussing things with a couple months ago. The level of hate and anger is shocking to me.
I try and explain that our daughter tells us each a different story because she is just trying to please whatever parent she is with. Her response is to grab our daughter and put her on the phone, clearly full of tears my daughter says “I want to come back earlier from now on”. I say the my ex that of course she is going to say that when you put her under pressure. I call my wife an idiot. There is then suddenly a new voice on the line. “don’t you call her an idiot, you drive back here right now im going to come outside and kick your head in.. come back right now and lets have it etc.” These threats continue for a short while, Then my ex comes back on the phone “you need to listen to your daughter – shes telling you what she wants” etc. I realise I am never going to get anything but abuse and threats so hang up. Now, the day after I am wondering what to do. Is there any legal avenue I could take. Or ?
I know this is a book but I wanted to get as much context down as I could.
Anybody, who had read all this and responds probably deserves a medal! But anyone who does – It is very much greatly appreciated.