Chip Chick
This 41-year-old man and his 42-year-old ex-wife, Elizabeth, were married for ten years and had three children together. They have a 16-year-old son named Alex, a 12-year-old son, and a 5-year-old son.
And even though the two were not a very good couple, they still have a friendly relationship and even own a business together.
Since getting divorced, both he and Elizabeth have also gotten remarried, and he and his new wife have been married for the past two years now. Occasionally, his new wife will try to ground, discipline, and directly parent his children, and he feels as though this is overstepping her bounds.
“I’ve stopped her, explaining she isn’t a parent and the only ones who can decide those things about our kids are Elizabeth and me, and she has stopped,” he explained.
Recently, Elizabeth dropped Alex back off and explained to his father that he was grounded and wasn’t allowed to have his phone. After telling him to go to his room, Alex replied to Elizabeth, stating that he didn’t have to follow her rules at his dad’s house.
He replied to his son, telling him to listen to his mother because Elizabeth’s word is just as valid as his, no matter which house Alex is staying at.
Later on, his wife expressed that she felt humiliated by what had happened earlier and that her authority as a stepparent felt diminished by what he had said to Elizabeth. She was upset about not having the same amount of control over the kids as their own mother did.
From his point of view, he should be respectful of Elizabeth and her choices when it comes to parenting their children, but his wife and other family members seem to disagree. He wants to maintain a healthy co-parenting relationship between himself and Elizabeth, so he hopes that he is making the right choice.
“Apparently, everyone is on my wife’s side. They say that I should have told Lizzy that her punishment wasn’t valid in my house, but I don’t think it was the right thing to do. She respects my decisions, so I MUST respect hers,” he said.
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