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Anxiety when your kids are away from you

xspecialkx's picture

Kids are 4 and 7 and most of the time us parents have been separated has been over lockdown.

recently their dad has shown an interest in taken them out. In the last 2 years they have only gone to his house or more often dumped at grandparents instead. 

although im happy he wants to have them im just anxious and worried he won't be able to cope, he will lose one of them, something bad will happen. He has never had them alone even in all the years we were together. He struggled with mental health issues and I think that's why he hasn't been out much.

he now wants to take them on holiday alone but I can't help but worry its too much too soon. He probably wouldn't listen to me if I say start days slowly and gradual incase it's too much.

how do u stop worrying when they aren't with you !

Comments

ESMOD's picture

You will have to allow him to do what is allowed in your custody order.  So, if he gets set time with them.. he can take it.. or he can let his kids be with the grandparents.. unless you have a first right of refusal type of clause where you have to be offered time if he can't be present.. it's his choice.  Just like you would be able to get a sitter for them on your time.

If he is allotted time and has no restrictions on travel with the kids, you can't stop him from taking them on a trip.  He may not have been alone with them when you were together, but I'm assuming at some point since, he has been caring for them at least some on his own time.

Unless you believe he is in an active adiction phase or other danger, you may have to grit your teeth and let him be their parent on his time.  Of course, you can prepare your kids with information to deal with a situation where one of them might get lost.. even if it were on a shopping trip with you for example.  Surely you have had conversations about what to do in those cases to some extent?  

But, I understand, it can be hard to let go and give someone else that control.  But.. if the courts have ordered that he gets unsupervised time with his kids... you need to understand that as their father, he does have rights to them... just like you do.

But, you could certainly arm your kids with information cards to keep that might have phone numbers to call etc..if they get lost?

Do you think your kids are higher risk for wandering off? developmental issues that might make caring for them extra hard?

lieutenant_dad's picture

This is great. Only thing I'll add, OP, is if your ex is a current danger to your kids - such as he has expressed suicidal ideation, is no longer taking medication/in treatment, is actively using drugs - then you will need to speak with an attorney to file for emergency custody to prevent him from taking the kids. But ONLY resort to this if your kids are ACTUALLY in danger, not just that you're worried that they could be. 

Rumplestiltskin's picture

I was worried about similar. I coped by trying my best to teach my kids to be as "independently safe" as possible.

One thing i was worried about was water. My ex has a pool and often goes other places with pools or near bodies of water. I made sure my kids could swim.

I also did "getting lost" scenarios. When we would go places, i told them that if they were ever lost in public, go up to a woman with kids or a female worker and ask for help.  I made sure they both knew my phone number. Talked about safety around cars, strangers, what to do if there's a fire. If they are sitting in a car outside a store waiting for an adult to run in, lock the doors and don't open the door for anyone for any reason, same with being home alone. I didn't do it in a way to make them paranoid, but just made safety and awareness part of daily life. 

CastleJJ's picture

The BM in our life used to use this anxiety to try to keep my SS away from us - only granting us a few hours at a time. Trying to get a single overnight was like pulling teeth and we don't have any of the background your ex has - BM just couldn't handle not being in control. Once we got steady overnights, BM kind of freaked out because she had to trust us to take care of SS. SS is always perfectly cared for at our house, but it wasn't exactly how BM would do it and it was a control thing. We got frequent texts from BM, checking in, making sure SS went to bed on time, making sure SS had a bath, making sure SS didn't eat too much sugar, making sure SS didn't watch too much TV. She was relentless. It took DH setting firm boundaries and several years before BM got the hint that SS was perfectly fine in our care. 

At the end of the day, you at some point trusted this person enough to have children with them, regardless of the circumstances, that has to count for something. He is their Dad and he has rights to see his kids, just like you do. Like others said above, if there are actual, concrete concerns, then that's one thing, but it sounds like you're worrying about the "what ifs" and you can't do that. You may not like how he parents or what he does on his parenting time, but that is strictly a difference of opinions and parenting styles, not an actual threat of harm or danger. Something bad can happen on either parents' parenting time - illness, accident, natural disaster, etc, but it isnt enough to prevent the contact; you wouldn't like it if the shoe was on the other foot and he withheld the kids from you because of these "what ifs." 

xspecialkx's picture

He hasn't done drugs or anything like that it is purely because he has struggled with depression and mental health.. I don't know the full extent as he has only told me snippets.

my 4 year old can be a handful, runs off at every moment no matter what I tell him so this is my main worry. There is no court order all agreements are between ourselves. I'm not stopping him going away or days out but I just want to know how to advise not to go to far incase he mentally finds it's too much of a challenge for a first day out in 2 years. 

ESMOD's picture

The problem is... so he makes it through that "test" day you want to allow him without losing the kids.  NO guaranty he won't lose one the next time.. or the tenth time after that.  NO guaranty that you won't lose that 4 yo that is prone to running off.

You have someone that may have struggled in the past with depression.. but don't really have any kind of full picture on that.  Has he been committed?  Attempted Suicide?  Do you have any real basis to claim he could be a danger other than a general unease with letting your kids out of your sight?

I thought he DID have the kids over Christmas?  What are his plans to take them now? a 2 week holiday or a weekend?  

Unfortunately, the base fact is that you had two kids with this guy... these kids deserve to have a relationship with their father.  If he was such a poor human being, the time to decide to not let him have his kids would have been to not HAVE his kids.  I'm not saying that to be mean really.. just pointing out that you trusted him enough to have kids with him.. that barring a legit danger of abuse or neglect... you need to let him be a father to his kids if he wants to do that.

He will figure it out.. just like all "new" parents figured it out somehow.  You have two kids.. the older child can also be reminded to look out for the younger one.. I was the older.. I knew that was also something I needed to do..look out for my younger brother.

If you truly feel this guy has no way of caring for the kids, then since you apparently have no official agreement?  You can choose to only let him take more limited time.  

I actually could see some legit reason to say.. "I know you want to take them on a 2 week trip to Disney but they have only spent one night away from their home at a time in their whole lives so I think it would be better to start with a few weekends.. in case the kids get homesick."