People rally around man being criticized by his ex-wife for being a 'Disneyland Dad'

The bond between a father and daughter is unique and cherished deeply. Bolstered by love, respect and understanding, a father-daughter relationship is special. Being their daughter's first hero, many dads out there can't help but spoil their precious princesses. This was true for u/DecisionInfinite6688, a dad who cherished his weekends with his daughter, always striving to make them memorable. However, his ex-wife disapproved of him spoiling their daughter and asked him to stop.

In the post, the man wrote about his horrible divorce from his wife June which was the result of him losing his job during the pandemic. "Came home to an empty house and a note saying she needed someone who could 'give her the lifestyle she and Clare deserved,'" he mentioned. Additionally, the COVID-19 lockdown delayed his divorce proceedings, preventing him from seeing his daughter for a time. However, luck favored him towards the end of the pandemic and his life turned out to be better compared to many others whose careers were impacted negatively by the lockdown. "I'm now in fantastic financial shape," the dad wrote.

As a result of his better financial stature and the completion of his divorce, the father gained 50% custody of his daughter, Clare and he mentioned, "I'm trying to make up for lost time." He was thrilled to resume their father-daughter weekends, noting that he rewards Clare for her good performance in school and help with chores. "We will do whatever she wants, usually things like museums, movies, nearby national parks, festivals in our city," the dad wrote. However, this created a ruckus between him and his ex-wife. Clare's mom and step-father met the dad and said that their business "took a massive hit" during the pandemic and they haven't financially recovered yet. Also, since June was pregnant and they were currently cutting back expenses, they felt that the dad spoiling Clare could "affect the relationship between the two kids." They requested he curtail the gifts as they were unable to do the same for their soon-to-be-born baby.

"I told them I had no intention of changing how I raised Clare because she was a great kid and deserved to be rewarded for her good behavior," the dad wrote. However, this only infuriated Clare's mom more and she ended up calling him "a Disneyland dad using his money to get back at her." Though the dad felt that he always did the right thing for his daughter, speaking to his girlfriend and a few friends in child education made him have second thoughts. The dad also pointed out in the comments that he wasn't completely spoiling his kids and that Clare had missed out on outings when she wasn't doing good in school. He asked the internet if he was wrong for setting up his daughter for conflict with her future sibling and people found no fault with the dad.

"So when you were broke she dumped you because she wanted to keep up her lifestyle, but when she hits hard times you need to adjust your lifestyle to fit hers - the ex! NTA. What you do with your daughter on your custody time is on you," commented u/spoonfullofrage. "There will be conflict between the children regardless because of the way your ex-wife is. She's the one already weirdly pitting them against each other. Kudos to you for not letting something like this break you during the pandemic. Your positivity will take you far. Hopefully to Disneyland many times with your daughter," wrote u/freefaall. "NTA. Your ex just felt the wrath of galactic karma. Do as you please during your time with your daughter," commented u/Nenoshka.