Since Mozza touched on what I think is important, your STBXH doesn't have to have a personality disorder diagnosis for me to say that it appears his compassion & empathy chip is not working. I don't know if it has always been that way, and I would rather you not spend more than 20 seconds answering that.
Originally Posted By: Underdog
Quote:
I want her to be strong enough to say, "you know, dad, I know you didn't mean it, but you hurt me, and i would like you to acknowledge that and respect my feelings instead of dismissing them."
Umm, Claire, she's 3? I know people who are 40 that don't do this well. So teach her by YOUR actions. Let her catch you in the act of doing stuff wrong and then working on correcting the hurts. Besides, it takes a lot of development (that comes with age and training) to express yourself clearly with emotional responses. Let's let her get potty trained first.
Betsey, I laughed out loud when I read this! I was totally unclear... I meant that I want her to be able to say this kind of thing to her dad when she is much, much older!!
Thanks, Betsey and rppfl for your responses. I think I want "answers" because it somehow will allow me to move forward with divorce without any regrets. But I don't need those "answers" to do that.
