Breaking up with children is more than simply going your separate ways. Photo: Dreamstime/TNS
My five-year-old daughter is so traumatised by her mom's and my breakup that she will not leave my side. She tells me she is afraid I won’t come back. When it is time to return to her mother’s home, I ask her if she wants to go to mommy’s, and she clings to me. When it’s time to go to school, I ask her if she wants to go to school and she cries. Her mother disgusts me, but I keep my feelings to myself. She is convinced that I am trying to sway our child. I’m not forcing her to do anything. She doesn’t want to go. I just want my child to be happy. What’s good ex-etiquette?
The immediate suggestion of most would be to say that this child needs counselling, but never having talked to her or witnessed the behaviour you are describing, I have no idea if that is the answer. More than that, I look to you and mum to provide the stability she needs.
