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SS missing school again, emails from BM abounding

Nymh's picture

I would like for you guys to read these emails and see if you think they sound at all legitimate. I think that there is a lot of made up stuff in them to try to guilt BF into letting her keep SS from coming on visitation. She has always insisted that SS has said he would rather be able to pick and choose when he comes to visit instead of being "forced" to come every other weekend and that that is a major contributing factor to why BF and SS "have no bond". I wish she could see the two of them when SS is here, she'd quit talking about them "having no bond" if she could ever see them together when she's not around! She has also always said that there are things that SS tells her about how he feels and wants to tell BF but he never once has mentioned these feelings to BF or even let on like he feels this way. When SS is with us he is so affectionate and open about his feelings, his relationship with BM and how different it is from his relationship with BF. Am I crazy to think that an 8-10 year old kid could keep up such an elaborate lie for so long because he's supposedly scared of what his father would do if he expressed his true feelings to him? Anyway, here are the emails.

SS has been up most of the night/morning crying and complaining of a stress headache. This seems to be a routine when he knows it's his weekend with you, as is his not wanting to go to school on Monday and Tuesday following the return home from weekends with you. By no means am I trying to be a "witch" with this. I truly think he's unhappy at being "forced" to be with you when he doesn't always want to be even though he still loves you. He's expressed concern that the two of you basically have no bond other than that which is forced by the court and he'd be happier if he was allowed to choose when he wanted to visit you. I've tried to get him to talk to you about this but he tells me he's afraid. I've expained that it's a topic that I really can't discuss with you on his behalf because you'll think I'm just making it up. Maybe you can send him an email ASAP today, asking how he's feeling and for how he feels about visiting this weekend. Maybe we can give him the choice of visiting/not visiting for a few weekends to see if it changes his complaints and feelings. Please understand this is only a suggestion but something has truly got to give. It's really not fair for SS to be under all this stress, etc.

I have no desire to keep SS from visiting with you though I don't feel it's fair that he has to be "forced" by the court system. You are his father and will always be his father. However, I see the forced visitation and now the custody petition that you've proposed pushing our son further and further from you. He commented last night that his relatioship with you had been nearly severed but that now he felt it was completely severed. SS has also mentioned that he doesn't want your daughter with Nymh to have to go through what he's been going through. I think this was a very sad thing to hear from our 10 year old son.

If you don't care, please email me back a response. Please try to send SS a new email asking about things. I'm trying to remain as neutral as possible in a terrible situation but it's very hard when I see how deeply our son is hurting over all this.

-BM

(New Email)
I've decided to keep SS home from school today since he's still crying and complaining with a stress headache. Do you want to come down and maybe take him to eat or something and see if he'll talk to you about things? Maybe he can either write down the things he feels he can't discuss with you and have it ready for you to read or take a tablet with him and write down things while he's with you. I'm just trying to offer up possible ideas/suggestions since SS is miserable right now and says it has to do with visitation and feelings toward you even though he still loves you. Our son is hurting and I can't fix it and it kills me! Sad You doubt things I tell you that he tells me yet he won't talk openly to you about them.

Comments

SerendipitySM's picture

This woman is unbelievable and the lengths she is going to are reprehensible. I am so sorry for you and your husband. I don't know what to say....

Inside every cynical person, there is a disappointed idealist. - George Carlin

Colorado Girl's picture

I think even the threat of a therapist would be feared by BM. Then tell her that maybe SS is so 'stressed' because he wants his mom to get a job.

She's desperate.

There are few children who are able to communicate their feelings openly and understandably. I am the mother of two boys (12 and 9) and even in the depths of my divorce and the depths of my husband's custody battle...my kids were NEVER that forthright with their stress.

In all actuality, the poor kid would be better off if he went to school. Let him quit dwelling on the damn situation with his out of work mom. She's not supposed to be discussing custody issues with him anyway. SHE's being dramatic..not the 10 year old. Give him a Pokemon deck and send him on his way.

"For every ailment under the sun....There is a remedy, or there is none;
If there be one, try to find it; If there be none, never mind it." ~ W.W. Bartley

Nymh's picture

What she says when confronted with the idea with a therapist for SS is that "she brings him to a therapist already" and that there's no reason for BF to bring him to one.

Oh, and conveniently the therapist that she supposedly brings him to agrees with everything BM says.

*~So sayeth Nymh~*

frustratedinMA's picture

I too was going to suggest that your dh sit down w/ss and say, You know I love you and that you can tell me ANYTHING. I promise I will not get mad, I want you to feel that you can share your feelings and anything w/me.

If ss still doesnt say anything, then perhaps the prompting like vick said.. but I wouldnt necessarily say it was what bm said, but rather prompting questions based on her allegations. like...

ss how do you feel about our weekends together?
ss do you feel stressed about coming to our home on the weekends?
ss how were you feeling last night? and today? (to find out why he didnt go to school)
ss did you want to go to school today?

Things like that..

StepG's picture

are you sure your BM is not mine? My first question is what does a 10 year old truly know about a bond and what it means? I mean yeah he has a bond but he does not know what it means or what it means to have one severed. Our BM does the same thing and says that SS is afraid to tell his dad how he feels cause he will get mad and that he tells her all about how he feels. She also says that he does the crying and crap when it is our weekend and then when SS finally gets here he is so far up his dad's tail end all I get are his toes to love on. My SS just turned 8 this last Monday and I know for a fact that he has no idea what a bond is and what severing it means like you and I as adults do. I would of course keep all of those emails. Have ya'll shown the emails to SS? and how funny she wants your BF to ask SS via email how he is feeling...hmmm maybe so she can be the one to respond. Another thing your BM does and mine does too is this forced visitation thing and I will say it like my H says it "I am his daddy and I do not care if you do not like it or he does not like it but he is coming to see me when it is my time it is not up to him to decide he is a child" I do not think it is until they are 15 in TN that the child can decide what visitation time they desire to have with the NCP. Hasn't your SS before shown interest in you having the baby and being at the ultra sounds etc? No doubt your SS may some of those things to his mom b/c that is what she wants to hear and he does it to keep peace with her when he is with her but is the other way around when with ya'll. My SS does this as he has never seen his mother so angry about something as she is when she hears his dad's name. My ss is not allowed to mention our name at her home. Anyway your SS as mine knows that their mom's have issues/problems/are psycho whatever you want to call it and they do not like that part of their mom but they still love them and do not want to see them hurt especially by them and if they show love and affection for dad then mom might hate me like she hates my dad(maybe that is more in my case) anyway I say yes those emails are her thoughts and her way of seeing things and trying to guilt your BF that he is making his son sick. I am so sorry for ya'll especially your SS. He loves his mom and his dad but mom wants him to choose just like our BM and darn her for that... do you hear me darn her!

chaotic's picture

I'm not sure if you have had a chance to check out the links that crayon posted but here's a quote from one of them that sounds EXACTLY like your situation.

"In severe cases of parent alienation, the child is utterly brain- washed against the alienated parent. The alienator can truthfully say that the child doesn't want to spend any time with this parent, even though he or she has told him that he has to, it is a court order, etc. The alienator typically responds, "There isn't anything that I can do about it. I'm not telling him that he can't see you."

I think your DH should suggest counseling to the BM and see how she reacts.

bellacita's picture

how exactly does a kid taht age know that theres a court order that they have to follow in terms of visitation??? not only are those not his words, but even if they were, its all predicated by the lies that BM has todl him and the way too much info hes gotten.

i really feel sorry for this kid. i agree w the others...therapy is needed. someone needs to see what BM is doing who is able to change it. good luck.

"Given the right reasons and the right two people, marriage is a wonderful way of experiencing your life."
~the late great George Carlin

northernsiren's picture

Okay what does a 10 yr old know about a "stress headache" maybe he didn't feel like going to school one day and BM said OH I BET YOU HAVE A STRESS HEADACHE FROM BEING FORCED TO SEE YOUR DAD! and he said yup, that's it, wanting to stay home. Whaa laa, child home from school whenever he feels like it, and BM lapping it up. It's not SS's fault, sometimes kids do this stuff to get their own way...

And what 10 yr old talks about severed relationships???? PUHLEEZE.

I think this kid just wants the two of them to get along, and that ain't going to happen, but he's still trying to keep everyone happy. What about the three of them sit down and talk? Or even with a counselor? I don't care what BM thinks about him not needing a counselor, it's BS that both communication from SS and the counselor come through her self serving filter. I wouldn't believe a word about any of it.

from my SD, the reason we're going through it all....:
o, btw, my dad and *northernsiren* are the best family a girl(and boy) could ever hope for. Thank you for helpping me through these hard times.

northernsiren's picture

Agreed, I guess I was getting at the fact that I don't think most kids come up with terms like that without some adult intervention, just as you're describing...

As someone who does have stress headaches, it's miserable. All I can do is lay in a dark room and PRAY to fall asleep. No tv, no music, no sitting up, no video games, no one talking to me, nada. If my SD said she had a stress headache, that's exactly what her day would be like, and I have no doubt if she were faking, she wouldn't do it again, that day is WORSE than school!

from my SD, the reason we're going through it all....:
o, btw, my dad and *northernsiren* are the best family a girl(and boy) could ever hope for. Thank you for helpping me through these hard times.

looking4answers's picture

He's 10.. he's not worried about court orders, and I also agree with the girls, what would he know about a stress headache? Sounds like BM is most likely putting things in his little head and tying to make your DH feel/look like the bad guy here. I feel for you, we get this type of thing a lot from BM about SD. It's a load of BS! Not sure if this would help you at all, but this is what we did. BF told BM we are following court orders, on his weeks or weekends, skids are to be here. Period. Unless SD had plans with friends, she stayed with us. Eventually BM let up a bit and the emails like this are far and few. I'd say have DH get SS and it is a good idea to at least talk to SS, maybe a bit of father/son time? Have lunch or something and just openly talk about feelings. But again, he's 10, and I seriously doubt he's feeling the way BM is making it out to be, especially if everything is great during visits. Don't let her get to you guys.. that's what BMs like her strive on! Wink Good luck!

chaotic's picture

Some things she said in the email caught my attention....

"I've expained that it's a topic that I really can't discuss with you on his behalf because you'll think I'm just making it up"

BAM! There it is....parental alienation! Why would she tell SS something like that, he's 10 for crying out loud! She is making your DH out to be the bad guy here, playing your SS against him!

"He commented last night that his relatioship with you had been nearly severed but that now he felt it was completely severed. SS has also mentioned that he doesn't want your daughter with Nymh to have to go through what he's been going through."

I say bullcrap! A 10 year old does not talk like this and now she is using your baby in her sick little game.

This is something my skids BM would do and it just burns my butt to no end the lengths these women will go to!

Your DH needs to take action against this witch! I think the first step would be to get SS in to therapy. If she refuses then you know she is aware that she is screwing with this child's mind and is afraid it will come out. I feel very badly for your SS. This woman is emotionally and mentally damaging him Sad You guys need to do everything in your power to stop her. I definitely would not give up the weekend visitations.

Rags's picture

Nymh,

The XW is obviously manipulating. The thoughts and words she claims come from the child are not the thoughts and words of a 10yo.

Stress Headaches????? More like a mother induced pain in the ass if I had to guess. Is she a medical professional? If not then she has no ability to diagnose the cause of a headache.

I would firmly recommend that your DH not correspond with the XW by e-mail at all. The e-mails that she has sent are great fodder to present to the court showing her manipulative behavior and are strong evidence of Parental Alienation that IMHO is being perpetrated by the XW against your DH and his child.

Your DH should be absolutely firm that visitation will occur as ordered. If the young man is in fact (with I believe is so unlikely as to be non existent) upset about comming to visit Dad the only way to build the relationship is to consistently invest the time required to build the relationship. The feelings will follow the actions. Eventually even a 10yo will figure out that Mom is the issue and not Dad.

It appears that whatever custody action your DH has initiated is certainly getting the XW's attention. As a firm believer that people react to that which is uncomfortable I believe that the custody action is threatening the XW in some way and it may not be a bad time for your husband to sit down with the XW and let her know that her efforts to interfere with the boys relationship with his Dad could result in her loosing custody and that DH has every intention of taking whatever action is necessary to protect the relationship between he and his son.

Just my thoughts of course.

Good luck and best regards,

Anonymouse1's picture

Never wrote before ....I just lurk. I am a BM and my kids complain all the time about going to their dads..."nothing to do"...only do what the "girlfriend wants to do" etc etc. I don't give them a choice. I want my free weekends and I'm sure they complain about me to him. They tell me he is mean; I'm sure they tell him I am mean. Mine are 15 and 12 and have never ever said they had a stress headache or said they didnt feel they had "bonded" or that relationship w/ father was "severed"...they might say...I hate dad! At which point I go yeah, okay go clean your room.

katie's picture

I think your husband needs to get the name and number of the therapist and make an appointment to speak to her without BM to let the therapist know everything that has been going on. If SS truly is seeing a therapist they would want to meet his dad anyways to work through issues and share things SS is afraid of sharing. I think asking for the name and number as a concerned parent will show you if she is lying or not. her reaction to this will tell all.

Nymh's picture

BF and I have both asked her the information on the therapist multiple times and she refuses to disclose who the therapist is or even what town they are in. She won't even tell BF when she is bringing SS to the therapist. There was one time that she used an appointment that SS supposedly had with his therapist as an excuse for him not to come for visitation on certain days of his fall break last year. BF said there's no reason he couldn't take SS but she refused. She wouldn't even let him know what day it was on! The only thing she will say about it is that the therapist agrees with everything BM has said over the years. Literally, that's what she says. "The therapist agrees with everything I have said." Well that's wonderful, but not believable especially when you won't tell us anything about the therapist and we have no assurance that they even exist! Oh yeah, we do..I forgot..there are the times that SS has told us that he's gone but that he sat and read a book the whole time and BM told the therapist how she thinks SS feels.

*~So sayeth Nymh~*