Woman asks if she's wrong to not look after kids during her ex-husband's parenting week

Separated or divorced parents often struggle with childcare, especially when they have court-assigned time with their kids. A little understanding can go a long way. However, a woman on Reddit, u/throwaway827262627, shared why she refused to watch her kids during her ex-husband's week, sparking controversy online.

"Me and my ex-husband divorced 4 years ago, we have two daughters together," the woman shared. The husband remarried a year ago. "I knew that he and his wife were expecting because my daughters told me that they would get a sibling," she explained. "Now this Friday it was his week with the girls, he called me and asked if I could please take them earlier. When I asked him why, he told me that he needed to be with his wife at the hospital," the mom shared. The woman refused to do that as she believed that it wasn't a good enough reason for disobeying the court's order.

"He either could stay with the girls, leave the girls with a babysitter or take them with him to the hospital. I hung up before he could continue," the woman went on. "He texted me about two hours after telling me that I was extremely sick in the head and that for once, he was in a situation where he needed my help and I refused," she revealed. "His best friend who was a mutual friend of ours until the divorce also texted me and said that he hoped I was happy with myself." The mom expressed how she couldn't understand how she was in the wrong so she asked people on the internet for an unbiased opinion on the situation.

People quickly shared their opinions in the comments. u/Capresesandwitch wrote, "You are not just an a****** but outright cruel. Any reasonable person with an ounce of empathy or compassion would agree to watch someone’s children so their parents could be with their spouse at the hospital. Let alone agree to watch their own children. 'Not a reason to disobey the court order' my a**. Think like a human being for five seconds. You clearly have some sort of vendetta against either your ex-husband or his wife or both. You are definitely bitter about them having a baby together. And also don’t seem to like your children very much. As any normal loving parent with split custody would jump at the chance to spend extra time with their kids."

u/BlazingSunwonderland commented, "Most parents would take their kids, if possible. You want your kids to know that you will be there for them. You want your kids to know that they can always count on you. OP just proved to her kids that she sees them as a burden and doesn't want them. She only takes them when required."

u/ifelife expressed, "One time my now ex-partner's ex-wife had chicken pox as an adult. It's not good. Based on the court order, their daughter should have been with her, but she was too sick to have her. Since we'd both had chicken pox and were immune we had them both stay with us for a week to look after the mum. Did I like having her there and looking after her? No. But It's what grown-up people do when the kids are a priority. I despise my ex-husband (not the same person as my ex-partner in the story above) but I still gave him condolences when his grandmother died and he did the same when my mother died. There's always room for some compassion, even when you hate each other."