WAW Using God II

[pigskin]

Journaling:

W and I sat down yesterday to talk about our schedules with the kids. It was prompted by a request from her to do a handoff next Sunday midafternoon, rather than morning, since she wanted to visit my inlaws and stay late.

Naturally I suspected she might be trying to establish a precedent with the kids missing mass, so I asked her to sit down and discuss these exceptions. I realize when we are divorced that there will be times when she will be on vacation with the kids and therefore won't be taking them to a Catholic church; at least until they are old enough to go by themselves.

We both agreed beforehand to not make it a contentious discussion, and it wasn't. She agreed that the kids were being raised Catholic and that she had no problem with that. She felt that she was being deprived of sharing something she felt strongly about, namely her christian services with the kids.

I explained to her that I had no problem with the kids going to her church IN ADDITION to their Catholic obligations, not IN PLACE OF, every other week, or however the kid schedule works out. I told her the kids have to attend mass, regardless of whether or not they attend her church's service. I made it clear that it should be a rare exception when they miss, such as vacations or grandma visits, and that I do not want any such misses to be used as precedents showing that church was optional. She said she understood.

We have a ton of Catholic history with the kids that would refute any argument she'd have if she ever went back on her word, so I'm not too worried about that.

So for now, it looks like the issue from last week is resolved. She agreed that we can be smart about the schedule to ensure that the kids don't miss church.

A funny aside - I changed my FB tagline to a phrase referring to me flying solo with the kids. She changed hers to the exact same thing. To be funny or dig at me, who knows.