Co parenting a child with a Mentally ill parent…

Kind of a venting session but also looking for some advice .. so my child’s father and I have been separated and trying to coparent since my son was 2 months old and he’s now 4.5. It hasn’t been an easy road by far but I used to think it was worth it, because my son had a father in his life. My child’s father hasn’t been diagnosed with any mental issues but only because he hasn’t gone to the dr to figure out why he is the way he is(he also thinks there’s nothing wrong with the things he does). I personally believe he is bipolar and may be schizophrenic as well. I’m no expert so I can be completely wrong, but that’s just what I get from doing research on his behaviors . He comes to my house every day to see our son and a lot of the time will stay the night which has been working for all of us . But I can’t help but to think what kind of emotional trauma I may be creating for my child that I’m not even realizing. My child absolutely adores him but there’s a lot of things I see him do that I just have a hard time standing behind. He teaches my child to curse, he eats all of my child’s food and snacks and when my son ask why did he have to eat ALL of them he says don’t worry it’s just chips I’ll get you another bag from the store tomorrow. He’s also instilling school isn’t important in my child. He thinks as long as our child plays sports that’s all that matters(school is everything to me) He also showers our child with tons of gifts and won’t even sit with him for 2 mins to play with it with him. He just hands him the toy and then gets on his phone while I have to help my child open the toy and play with it with him. He bought him a PlayStation5 last month and 4 games to go along with it and still a whole month later haven’t sat down and played it with him . And when I mentioned it he said “so what I haven’t played it with him he knows I paid $500 and got it for him so he could be happy” He also isn’t interested in anything my son a 4 year old is interested in. He doesn’t race cars with him or play with him in that way, he takes him outside and make him do wall squats(my son does enjoy it) but I can’t help but realize he’s only doing it because that’s what HIS interest are. If my son ask him to play action figures with him he says maybe later and then he’ll show him a video on his phone of someone working out and he’ll say this is better than playing action figures, let’s work out instead. Halloween was last week and after my son did all his trick or treating his father dumped his bucket of candy into the garbage in front of our child and said dressing up and going out for Halloween was for the experience, not for him to get cavities behind. Then he’s always arguing with people in front of our son and I don’t like it. He gets into screaming matches with ALL his family and friends about the craziest things like who’s gonna win the election and if they don’t agree with him he calls them out of their name and says he’s gonna beat them up when he sees them(and this is all said in front of our child). The list goes on and on but I feel like I’m coming to the realization that while it’s true he isn’t doing anything to quite hurt or harm him right now I worry in the long run these things will have a negative effect on my child. I feel the things he does are borderline manipulation tactics to our child. My child doesn’t realize it, but me as an adult I can see right through him. I have been thinking what if what I’m allowing is damaging my son in the long run.. will this create the childhood trauma I am working so hard to avoid. I also think about this is who his dad is. He has mental issues that he can’t help am I wrong for feeling like I wanna keep our son away from him or do I just allow him to be a dad even if it’s not the kind of dad I want for my child ? I wish there was a manual because I am so torn, I just want what’s best for my son.
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Girl, absolutely NO judgment here, but I promise your son will be affected as he grows up and takes in "OH this is how men act, this is how I'm supposed to act." It will eventually start to change your sweet boy. In psychology, your parents are your absolute first and main forms of learning how to socialize and treat others. I will say, I am personally diagnosed with mental illnesses but it also takes someone being ACCOUNTABLE and knowing there's something off to be a good parent still. He seems a bit like a teenager, not seeing the big picture and thinking shallow about big gifts but won't play with him. I'm sorry you're going through this momma. Him having blowouts with family is a huge indicator something is very wrong, toom

I highly recommend you join the Facebook groups The Ugly Truth of Divorce and The Ugly Truth of Coparenting by Samantha Boss whom is an incredible divorce coach.

He doesn’t sound bipolar, just sounds like an asshole.

No judgement! The behavior you just described sounds abusive and emotionally neglectful. You are absolutely right in thinking that it will affect your son as he gets older. Trust your gut. Dumping that candy out in front of your son was unkind and borderline cruel to do to a child. Be proactive. It sounds like you are the main caregiver for your child. Don’t be afraid to do what you think is best for them. If that means limiting time with his father or changing the atmosphere to suit your son’s needs then do it. I think my biggest fear as a mother is not doing the things I could’ve done to help my kids in the moment when I recognize it.

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