Abandoning teenaged kids
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
So I'm on vacation in a beach town in Central America and one of the bartenders tells me there's a new local in town who's from Maryland and introduces me. We politely chat. The woman soon tells me tells me she's from Bethesda, is divorced, and has a 14 and 16 year old. She then says that she had custody but that her kids recently insisted on moving in with their father. She said she thought for sure it would "blow over," but when it didn't she simply packed up a few months ago and moved to Central America to "start a new life."
How f'd up is that? |
Anonymous
| MYOB |
Anonymous
| How is that abandonment? The kids are in their father's custody. Kids that age are able to choose which parent to live with. Is she supposed to keep her home as a shrine to them? What is the problem with her traveling? What is YOUR problem? |
Anonymous
NP. Of course it’s abandonment. The woman moved away from her kids “to start a new life.” Now maybe she flies back and sees them regularly, but it doesn’t sound like it. It sounds like she’s upset they chose to live with her ex and she got tired of all the emotional baggage so she ran away. I don’t blame her for wanting a good life but she did move far away from her kids. Sad. |
Anonymous
| Abandoning your kids at age will F them up. This is something so primal to want to be loved by your parents. |
Anonymous
| She moved to Central America because she's broke. And probably depressed or other mental health issues. |
Anonymous
| Really why are you posting this? For all you know this person doesn’t have kids and was making all of this for their own entertainment. What are you hope to accomplish here? |
Anonymous
|
OP is obviously hoping someone recognizes the woman and wants to start drama.
I'm a divorced woman whose ex-husband has been pretty disappointing in the "being there for the kids" department, so I'm sympathetic to OP's post up to a point. However, having worked extensively overseas I can tell you that what OP describes is incredibly common when it's the man. So common as to be unremarkable. So there's sexism in play in her response to it. |
Anonymous
That’s a good point. But it’s still really unfortunate, for her and for her kids. Even if they wanted to live with the ex, they still need their mom. Now if she’s really got serious mental health issues, maybe it’s more peaceful and a relief for the kids. |
Anonymous
| Men do it all the time. |
Anonymous
| My brother got full custody of his kids when they were teenagers. He wasn’t even seeking it. There could be more to the story, OP. |
Anonymous
Nice job of making excuses for inexcusable shtty behavior. 
|
Anonymous
There's a reason that the dad got full custody. That's not an excuse, it's an explanation. |
Anonymous
No surprise that the bartender knows her so well. This is really sad. And a bad example for the two children. They’ll most likely have addiction problems, as well. |
Anonymous
It doesn’t matter. She needs to be in her kids lives, even if they live with their Dad. She gave birth to them. It’s the connection, beyond the material |