Red Mosquito

Dad, keep continuing to be the responsible parent. I know it sucks, especially with your oldest playing you against his mom, but he’ll understand eventually.

And if he doesn’t, then his mom can continue to enable him and support him when he’s 32.

Truth well said

wease wrote:Dad, keep continuing to be the responsible parent. I know it sucks, especially with your oldest playing you against his mom, but he’ll understand eventually.

And if he doesn’t, then his mom can continue to enable him and support him when he’s 32.

this. yeah, my wife and i were just talking about this very thing. I appreciate you, wease.

I’m not a parent, but have seen this similar thing happen from the sidelines a few times with extended family and friends. Wease has it on point. Best you can do is know you’re doing what’s right, so you’ll never have “what if” questions in the future. Sucks to see that happen though, and it’s easy for people to give advice without any emotional attachment to the situation. I commiserate with your position, it’s got to be tough.

Sucks when one parent (either married or divorced) wants to be the friend instead of the parent. That’s the situation I typically see, which forces the other parent to be the disciplinarian like you said. Among the many reasons I never wanted to have kids, one of them was that I knew I wouldn’t be a good disciplinarian — I’d naturally try and be a friend. And then I’d be a roadblock in the development of another person. #unclelife

bodysnatcher wrote:I’m not a parent, but have seen this similar thing happen from the sidelines a few times with extended family and friends. Wease has it on point. Best you can do is know you’re doing what’s right, so you’ll never have “what if” questions in the future. Sucks to see that happen though, and it’s easy for people to give advice without any emotional attachment to the situation. I commiserate with your position, it’s got to be tough.

Sucks when one parent (either married or divorced) wants to be the friend instead of the parent. That’s the situation I typically see, which forces the other parent to be the disciplinarian like you said. Among the many reasons I never wanted to have kids, one of them was that I knew I wouldn’t be a good disciplinarian — I’d naturally try and be a friend. And then I’d be a roadblock in the development of another person. #unclelife

the bolded part is exactly the situation I'm in. on top of that, their mom is constantly gaslighting me too, sometimes doing it right in front of the kids. it bums me out, but as you guys have said, what's important is sticking with what's right. it's all I can do.

Hang in there dad. We’re here for you friend.

wease wrote:Hang in there dad. We’re here for you friend.

bodysnatcher, i'm sure you'd be a better parent than most. Nobody's perfect.

tree_ wrote:bodysnatcher, i'm sure you'd be a better parent than most. Nobody's perfect.

Most parents are garbage.

My kids don't have tablets or watch YouTube. They rarely go into the toy aisle because of in-store pick up and online shopping.

They have no idea what toys/games/gizmos exist and/or marketed for kids. It makes gift buying for Christmas so much easier.

A nice perk to curated, streaming content and changing shopping habits.

Dad … the first thing that came to mind is make sure your kids have a study hall period during their school day, and hopefully their teachers can communicate to the study hall teacher that they have a lot of shit that needs to get done and not fuck around during study hall.

Also drive them around OKC or Norman or wherever, point out homeless encampments, and make it crystal clear that’s where they end up without an education.

MD… please stop with the curate. That word is nails on a chalkboard.

Everyone else … when you do a voice interview with me, I’ll give you parenting/vocabulary advice.

Bammer wrote:MD… please stop with the curate. That word is nails on a chalkboard.

Bammer the basic B

It’s time for

Spoiler: show

Evacuration

"selected"

Monkey_Driven wrote:My kids don't have tablets or watch YouTube. They rarely go into the toy aisle because of in-store pick up and online shopping.

They have no idea what toys/games/gizmos exist and/or marketed for kids. It makes gift buying for Christmas so much easier.

A nice perk to curated, streaming content and changing shopping habits.

I don’t understand…they have friends at school right? That’s how my kids hear about whatever the new toys or shows are.

Bammer wrote:Dad … the first thing that came to mind is make sure your kids have a study hall period during their school day, and hopefully their teachers can communicate to the study hall teacher that they have a lot of shit that needs to get done and not fuck around during study hall.

Also drive them around OKC or Norman or wherever, point out homeless encampments, and make it crystal clear that’s where they end up without an education.

okay, guys...enough with the AI Chat posts. We've met our quota.

bart wrote:

Monkey_Driven wrote:My kids don't have tablets or watch YouTube. They rarely go into the toy aisle because of in-store pick up and online shopping.

They have no idea what toys/games/gizmos exist and/or marketed for kids. It makes gift buying for Christmas so much easier.

A nice perk to curated, streaming content and changing shopping habits.

I don’t understand…they have friends at school right? That’s how my kids hear about whatever the new toys or shows are.

My first though as well.

dad wrote:

Bammer wrote:Dad … the first thing that came to mind is make sure your kids have a study hall period during their school day, and hopefully their teachers can communicate to the study hall teacher that they have a lot of shit that needs to get done and not fuck around during study hall.

Also drive them around OKC or Norman or wherever, point out homeless encampments, and make it crystal clear that’s where they end up without an education.

okay, guys...enough with the AI Chat posts. We've met our quota.

Me no understanding