I'm sure some of you have been down this path, and I'd love your advice.
I was divorced in 2014 when my three daughters were 3, 4, and 6. I was lucky enough to receive joint custody of my girls. They spend every other week with me.
7 years later I am remarried (since 2017) and my daughters have begun to resist coming to my house.
Amazingly enough, they can "remember" things that happened before they were born, they can repeat their mother's version of why why divorced, and they have decided that my wife and I can do nothing correctly. They have made statements questioning what they will be inheriting from my parents, and have become generally vile, disrespectful assholes. Their mother convinced them that it would be better for our daughters to spend fathers day with her because they would get to use her new pontoon.
My wife is at her absolute wits end with their attitudes, disrespect towards her and myself, and the way they view us. I have described this situation as becoming a tug of war between my ex and me.
I am really questioning whether it would be in my daughters best interest to let my ex win. I can see the damage being done to my daughters by being fed an altered version of the truth, and having to listen to someone bad-mouth me.
I honestly don't know the best way to proceed. Do I force them to endure a legal battle with their mother, during which they will receive daily briefings on what a huge asshole I am, or do I let them go for now and pray like hell that they find their way back to me in the future?
My mind tells me the logical thing to do is stay in their lives at all cost. My heart questions whether I want to have them continue to have to hear the lies about me, and wonders if my presence is causing them more harm than they deserve.
Help!!!
I was divorced in 2014 when my three daughters were 3, 4, and 6. I was lucky enough to receive joint custody of my girls. They spend every other week with me.
7 years later I am remarried (since 2017) and my daughters have begun to resist coming to my house.
Amazingly enough, they can "remember" things that happened before they were born, they can repeat their mother's version of why why divorced, and they have decided that my wife and I can do nothing correctly. They have made statements questioning what they will be inheriting from my parents, and have become generally vile, disrespectful assholes. Their mother convinced them that it would be better for our daughters to spend fathers day with her because they would get to use her new pontoon.
My wife is at her absolute wits end with their attitudes, disrespect towards her and myself, and the way they view us. I have described this situation as becoming a tug of war between my ex and me.
I am really questioning whether it would be in my daughters best interest to let my ex win. I can see the damage being done to my daughters by being fed an altered version of the truth, and having to listen to someone bad-mouth me.
I honestly don't know the best way to proceed. Do I force them to endure a legal battle with their mother, during which they will receive daily briefings on what a huge asshole I am, or do I let them go for now and pray like hell that they find their way back to me in the future?
My mind tells me the logical thing to do is stay in their lives at all cost. My heart questions whether I want to have them continue to have to hear the lies about me, and wonders if my presence is causing them more harm than they deserve.
Help!!!