WAW w/Exit Affair or WW? - 1 Year Divorced (7)

[BL42]

Mach1,

First off.....

Venting ?

Or would you like thoughts ?

A little venting for sure, but mostly open to thoughts and advice - that's why I'm here!

I would liken what you are actually doing as "parallel parenting" instead of a co-parenting thing. I see that YOU want to co-parent, yet she and your ex-out in laws have their plan, and are sticking to it hell or high water.

I think your frustration may be coming from that...

IMO it's in the best interest of the kids to have as much of a consistent/united front in parenting, especially with them being so young. We've done relatively "alright" considering the situation - no major fights in front of the kids or parental alienation or anything like that - but there are definitely frustration points. It's a lot harder to say "you have to go to swim lessons" or "you can't eat candy before dinner" or "you have to do your school assignments to avoid the Summer slide" when they don't hear the same message on the other side.

Just keep doing 'good' and it won't matter what the other side is doing, at least you will have the peace of mind that you are doing good....

Good point. All my decisions and actions throughout this process have gone through the lens of "what's best for the kids", regardless of Ex. I'm at peace knowing I've done right by them.

I'm pumped for ya man.....

First time with just you ???

Thanks! It's actually the third Summer taking them without ExW (kids were S4/D1 when she left), but my family goes as well so it's not just me alone; I'll have support. ExW went many Summers as well and liked it, or at least seemed to. We used to take family photos there and when my ExW was pregnant we picked out my daughter's name during a walk on the beach and wrote it out in sand to make the announcement. Then-S4 told my mom awhile back..."I don't get it Grandma. Mommy would like this." He couldn't understand why she wouldn't want to be there. What a heartbreaker.