He did his kids wrong and his girlfriend wrong in one fell swoop.
It can be deeply painful when your family members don't support your romantic relationships. You want to make your parents and kids happy, and if they're unhappy with the person you're dating, it's a near-impossible situation to navigate. You either have to break up with someone you love to make other people happy, a decision that is sure to breed resentment between you and those you aspire to please. Or you have to deal with the uncomfortable feeling of your parents or kids resenting your partner, making every birthday party, family dinner, and holiday feel awkward and weird.
Sometimes kids dislike their parents' new partners for valid reasons. Maybe their dad's girlfriend is trying too hard to fulfill the role of "mom," and they find that off-putting. Maybe they just don't vibe with their mom's boyfriend's personality, and they don't want to hang out with him because of it. Oftentimes, when a parent is dating after a divorce or the loss of their spouse, their kids' issues with their new partners are based on visceral emotional reactions. Who wouldn't be uncomfortable if their dad started dating someone only a few years older than them? It's not evil to feel upset when your mom starts dating somebody seriously mere months after your dad passes. It's incredibly human to feel upset about these things.
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5 months ago
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