Quote: W has all the time in the world for the kids. Just none for me. I know you'll say that there's an opportunity here, but as soon as I get involved, she finds something else to do.
It all happens in baby steps. At first my W was not interested and do her own thing as well. It took nearly three months for her to spend time in the room with us regularly. It was nearly half a year later when she admitted she actually enjoys and looks forward to the times when my D & I play a game and she watches even though she and D do spend time together after school when I'm not there. In the long term, it was also one of the things that drew her closer to me. Attrached her to desire spending some more alone time with me.
My point here Andy, is at first she may take it as an oppurtunity to go her own way, but if you provide a period of time for a lighter, upbeat family environment different from the daily grind, then in time she will be drawn towards it as a safe haven in which she could enjoy time with her family (including you) and if you are the source of enjoyable family time, then she may be drawn to you as well.
I didn't come across this by design, but was an observation over time. As a matter of fact, it was not my intention for this to have an impact on my W, but strickly to bring my D and I closer. It turned out that draw my W closer was just a fringe benefit.
