Can a cheating husband still be a good parent?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A wife's or husband's infidelity and desire to divorce will hurt the children and demonstrate where their priorities lie. They are choosing an affair partner, and their own happiness, over the stability and happiness of their children.

That’s not actually a law of physics. A parent constantly conflating an offense against her with an attack on the kids, however, might be unhealthy to grow up around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A huge part of being a good parent is being a good role model, and that means treating ones wife/mother of one's children with respect. A DH who cheats on the wife condones deception, lying, and betrayal of vows. If you say that a cheating DH can also be a good dad means asking your children to view the world in an artificially disjointed way. You are asking your kids to close off a part of their heats, which is really sad.

Agree with this, and it goes just as much for a cheating wife as a cheating husband.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A wife's or husband's infidelity and desire to divorce will hurt the children and demonstrate where their priorities lie. They are choosing an affair partner, and their own happiness, over the stability and happiness of their children.

That’s not actually a law of physics. A parent constantly conflating an offense against her with an attack on the kids, however, might be unhealthy to grow up around.

If the unfaitful/adulterous husband or wife chooses his or her happiness, and a relationshipaffair partner, over the stability and happiness of the children, that choice speaks for itself. No editorializing is necessary.

[Anonymous]

Yes.

While I would never have guessed it, and many predicted otherwise, my Ex stepped up as a parent during our separation. Other than a few month lapse when another new lady entered his life briefly a bit later, he has been a much better father since his affair came out and our marriage ended. Many suspected he would lose interest and gradually fade out of our lives. The affair partner baled too and he now had his daughter to get to know and actively parent.

She was young enough not to remember much of this. My daughter has been completely shielded from knowing about the affair and other marital issues. My hope is she never finds outs. Should she find out, I hope she is at the maturity level that she understands good people can make really really crappy choices sometimes. I also hope she understands that while I am able to forgive him, I was not able to remain married to him.

He was not a good father for the first few years, but I am incredibly thankful for him stepping up. Especially so as he eventually confessed he had never wanted to be a parent, yet he knew it was expected of him. You can tell he adores her now and she adores her daddy. I would never want to do anything to jeopardize the relationship they have.

He flunked marriage, but is doing pretty awesome in the parenting department.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes.

While I would never have guessed it, and many predicted otherwise, my Ex stepped up as a parent during our separation. Other than a few month lapse when another new lady entered his life briefly a bit later, he has been a much better father since his affair came out and our marriage ended. Many suspected he would lose interest and gradually fade out of our lives. The affair partner baled too and he now had his daughter to get to know and actively parent.

She was young enough not to remember much of this. My daughter has been completely shielded from knowing about the affair and other marital issues. My hope is she never finds outs. Should she find out, I hope she is at the maturity level that she understands good people can make really really crappy choices sometimes. I also hope she understands that while I am able to forgive him, I was not able to remain married to him.

He was not a good father for the first few years, but I am incredibly thankful for him stepping up. Especially so as he eventually confessed he had never wanted to be a parent, yet he knew it was expected of him. You can tell he adores her now and she adores her daddy. I would never want to do anything to jeopardize the relationship they have.

He flunked marriage, but is doing pretty awesome in the parenting department.

You have really low standards for fatherhood.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A wife's or husband's infidelity and desire to divorce will hurt the children and demonstrate where their priorities lie. They are choosing an affair partner, and their own happiness, over the stability and happiness of their children.

That’s not actually a law of physics. A parent constantly conflating an offense against her with an attack on the kids, however, might be unhealthy to grow up around.

If the unfaitful/adulterous husband or wife chooses his or her happiness, and a relationshipaffair partner, over the stability and happiness of the children, that choice speaks for itself. No editorializing is necessary.

Lots of things can hurt children. My wife’s infidelity caused our marriage to disintegrate, but she loved our child. It would have been cat-lady-like stupid to argue that my wife hurting me meant she would be a neglectful parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes.

While I would never have guessed it, and many predicted otherwise, my Ex stepped up as a parent during our separation. Other than a few month lapse when another new lady entered his life briefly a bit later, he has been a much better father since his affair came out and our marriage ended. Many suspected he would lose interest and gradually fade out of our lives. The affair partner baled too and he now had his daughter to get to know and actively parent.

She was young enough not to remember much of this. My daughter has been completely shielded from knowing about the affair and other marital issues. My hope is she never finds outs. Should she find out, I hope she is at the maturity level that she understands good people can make really really crappy choices sometimes. I also hope she understands that while I am able to forgive him, I was not able to remain married to him.

He was not a good father for the first few years, but I am incredibly thankful for him stepping up. Especially so as he eventually confessed he had never wanted to be a parent, yet he knew it was expected of him. You can tell he adores her now and she adores her daddy. I would never want to do anything to jeopardize the relationship they have.

He flunked marriage, but is doing pretty awesome in the parenting department.

You have really low standards for fatherhood.

Please stop spewing hatred toward someone who wrote a wonderful post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes.

While I would never have guessed it, and many predicted otherwise, my Ex stepped up as a parent during our separation. Other than a few month lapse when another new lady entered his life briefly a bit later, he has been a much better father since his affair came out and our marriage ended. Many suspected he would lose interest and gradually fade out of our lives. The affair partner baled too and he now had his daughter to get to know and actively parent.

She was young enough not to remember much of this. My daughter has been completely shielded from knowing about the affair and other marital issues. My hope is she never finds outs. Should she find out, I hope she is at the maturity level that she understands good people can make really really crappy choices sometimes. I also hope she understands that while I am able to forgive him, I was not able to remain married to him.

He was not a good father for the first few years, but I am incredibly thankful for him stepping up. Especially so as he eventually confessed he had never wanted to be a parent, yet he knew it was expected of him. You can tell he adores her now and she adores her daddy. I would never want to do anything to jeopardize the relationship they have.

He flunked marriage, but is doing pretty awesome in the parenting department.

You have really low standards for fatherhood.

Cheating and blowing up your marriage is an act of bad parenting (in addition to being a HORRIBLE act of bad spouse-ing) but it doesn't mean you're a bad parent. A good student can flunk a test or a class, a good doctor can make a mistake, a good person can make a mistake.

And more than that, people CAN improve and go on to be better and if you don't allow them the space to do so it will never happen. PP is a good person to let her ex figure out how to be a good dad, her daughter is better for it, regardless of whether or not he deserved his ex wife's compassion/help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes.

While I would never have guessed it, and many predicted otherwise, my Ex stepped up as a parent during our separation. Other than a few month lapse when another new lady entered his life briefly a bit later, he has been a much better father since his affair came out and our marriage ended. Many suspected he would lose interest and gradually fade out of our lives. The affair partner baled too and he now had his daughter to get to know and actively parent.

She was young enough not to remember much of this. My daughter has been completely shielded from knowing about the affair and other marital issues. My hope is she never finds outs. Should she find out, I hope she is at the maturity level that she understands good people can make really really crappy choices sometimes. I also hope she understands that while I am able to forgive him, I was not able to remain married to him.

He was not a good father for the first few years, but I am incredibly thankful for him stepping up. Especially so as he eventually confessed he had never wanted to be a parent, yet he knew it was expected of him. You can tell he adores her now and she adores her daddy. I would never want to do anything to jeopardize the relationship they have.

He flunked marriage, but is doing pretty awesome in the parenting department.

You have really low standards for fatherhood.

Cheating and blowing up your marriage is an act of bad parenting (in addition to being a HORRIBLE act of bad spouse-ing) but it doesn't mean you're a bad parent. A good student can flunk a test or a class, a good doctor can make a mistake, a good person can make a mistake.

And more than that, people CAN improve and go on to be better and if you don't allow them the space to do so it will never happen. PP is a good person to let her ex figure out how to be a good dad, her daughter is better for it, regardless of whether or not he deserved his ex wife's compassion/help.

Not sure I had much or any compassion in the beginning to be honest, but yes I did help with guidance if he asked. I did it because it was in the best interest of my girl. Would I have typed this within a year of the separation? Not a chance. Now, I'm willing to give credit where credit is due. He has several years of good parenting under his belt. The good parenting years have well out weighed the bad. He was a train wreck for a few years there, but when all completely fell apart he did manage to get his act together again.

[Anonymous]

Would the previous posters' analysis change if the unfaithful partner/parent planned to move to a distant state to pursue their happiness and live with their affair partner? And if they specifically said that they did not want the family to follow (though in truth it would be very difficult to uproot everyone's lives to follow the divorcing parent in any case)?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would the previous posters' analysis change if the unfaithful partner/parent planned to move to a distant state to pursue their happiness and live with their affair partner? And if they specifically said that they did not want the family to follow (though in truth it would be very difficult to uproot everyone's lives to follow the divorcing parent in any case)?

That would be further acts of bad parenting. At some point a cumulative effect of bad parenting decisions add up to a bad parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would the previous posters' analysis change if the unfaithful partner/parent planned to move to a distant state to pursue their happiness and live with their affair partner? And if they specifically said that they did not want the family to follow (though in truth it would be very difficult to uproot everyone's lives to follow the divorcing parent in any case)?

That would be further acts of bad parenting. At some point a cumulative effect of bad parenting decisions add up to a bad parent.

Cheating is a symptom of a much bigger problem inside that person and whether it's a man or a woman those issues do not just go away when they are caught or they divorce. It usually follows them in all their relationships romantic or child/parent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Would the previous posters' analysis change if the unfaithful partner/parent planned to move to a distant state to pursue their happiness and live with their affair partner? And if they specifically said that they did not want the family to follow (though in truth it would be very difficult to uproot everyone's lives to follow the divorcing parent in any case)?

That would be further acts of bad parenting. At some point a cumulative effect of bad parenting decisions add up to a bad parent.

Cheating is a symptom of a much bigger problem inside that person and whether it's a man or a woman those issues do not just go away when they are caught or they divorce. It usually follows them in all their relationships romantic or child/parent.

What is your source, or are you just making shit up?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Would the previous posters' analysis change if the unfaithful partner/parent planned to move to a distant state to pursue their happiness and live with their affair partner? And if they specifically said that they did not want the family to follow (though in truth it would be very difficult to uproot everyone's lives to follow the divorcing parent in any case)?

Bad parenting or good parenting?

[Anonymous]

I cheated on my husband several times in 25 years, he never knew, still doesn't, and I was an awesome patent, still am.

I'm sure someone will say I'm not, but actually they would be wrong.