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BM tells SS his clothes are ugly

VENUS452's picture

I am so sick of BM telling SS that his clothes are ugly!!!! I know I shouldn’t let it bother me but for some reason this really gets me. I don’t understand how a mother tells her 5yo son that his clothes are ugly. It wouldn’t bother me as much if she told DH or I that she thought the clothes were ugly or w/e, but why say it to his face.

Ever since SS started preschool BM has been making comments about his clothes (because we don’t buy all of his clothes from Baby Gap) and one of the agreements they had during mediation was that DH would provide additional help for school clothes but that they wouldn’t be shopping at Baby Gap. So since that conversation, BM makes sure to comment on SS clothes that we buy for him. We don’t put him in rags, he has nice clothes and a lot of it is from Gap and Old Navy, etc. we just buy it used because he grows out of his clothes so quickly, but you would never know it’s used by looking at it, it’s all in great condition. I found it frustrating when she would make the comments to DH about his clothes but it didn’t really get under my skin because she always has something to complain about. But when she started making the comments directly to SS, making him feel bad about his clothes, that really sends me through the roof. If you want to be petty about that shit that’s fine, but don’t take it out on your child. I mean he’s five and he’s already so self-conscious about his appearance. Especially when she shows up. As soon as we tell him he’s going to his mom’s his first response is, “Does my hair look ok and do you think she will like my new shirt”!!! Why is a five year old worrying about his MOMS opinion of him. It breaks my heart.

This weekend I took SS shopping for a spring coat. I even let him pick it out and he picked one that look just like his dad’s black pea coat. It was so darn cute and he was SOOOO excited to have a jacket like daddy’s and he asked if he could show his mom. I hesitated, but I didn’t want to steal away his excitement. WELL I should have. I think it would have been better for me to say no you can’t take it to your moms, than have what happened. SS get’s out of the car with the biggest smile on his face and he runs over to his mom and says “Mommy look at my new jacket, it’s just like daddy’s, don’t I look handsome!!!” She looks at his jacket and says to him (AND I QUOTE)“Take that ugly ass jacket off and throw it away. I don’t want to see you wear something so ugly ever again. I’ll wait for you in the car”………I don’t think I have ever seen someone so small so disappointed. He of course cried and DH did his best to pick up the pieces and fought the urge to just scream at her right there. I just got back in the car and cried myself. I know the type of person she is and yet it still shocks me when she does things like this. It’s been 24 hours and I still cannot get over it. I asked DH if he was going to talk to her and he said he doubts it will do any good. She will never see that she’s doing something wrong because in her mind she is perfect. He said we just need to keep doing what we are doing so that at least one household supports him. I get it, but I don’t like it.

stepinhell617's picture

Poor kid. What a crazy person to do that to him. Secondhand clothes are fabulous- my kids and SS get complements all the time and jaws drop when I say hand me downs, thrift store and ebay Smile

VENUS452's picture

DH is usually the one who buys the clothes, it was just that jacket in particular that I went with him and I doubt she knew that.

The way they do the clothes situation is...BM has clothes for her house and DH has his own clothes. DH also gives her extra money twice a year for clothes on top of his monthly child support. However she will not share ANY of the clothes with us (even if DH pays) and she refuses to allow him to shop with her, so we're not even 100% sure the extra money goes to clothes.

Therefore we have to have our own clothes, but we try to make sure that he always goes back to BMs in clothes that belong to her. Of course there are times when I just didn't get the laundry done in time, or the clothes she sent him in are not appropriate for that days weather. Whenever we send him to her house in our clothes, they get thrown away so we do our best not to send him in anything that belongs to us. We have lost several items of clothing and shoes and jackets, etc. She throws away anything DH gets him. I agree it's probably jealousy mixed with the lack of ability the two of them share to have a functioning relationship. Her and DH were really never together. They only dated for about two months before DH found out she had been sleeping with someone else, they broke up, she never told him she was prego. SS was three months old before she figured out that he was DH's and not her bf's. She's now engaged and prego with her third child (third baby daddy).

HikingZion's picture

That just breaks my heart. I can only hope that the two of you are stable enough to give him some kind of glimpse of a loving home.

Also, I kinda want to keel her.

QueenBeau's picture

BM does similar things to SD7. She will comment on how bad SD's hair looks, or her lips being chapped, or w/e. It's just made SD soooo self conscious around BM. One time SD got a cute lil 'play'/dressup tutu she wanted to wear all day. On the way back to BM's DH said she freaked out like "DADDY I HAVE TO TAKE THIS OFF" & panicked to get it off before BM saw it. She thought BM would say it was stupid.

One time BM made her cry. DH was like.. "Don't you see that you aren't insulting me, you're insulting HER?"

BM didn't think so. She thought DH made her cry by 'arguing infront of her' -rolls eyes-

HikingZion's picture

I can't even, Beau, I can't even. She's saddling this poor girl with complexes that will last a lifetime. This just made me cry.

QueenBeau's picture

Yepp. She had SD so self conscious one day because when DH brought her back they met at 7:30 AM & it's a 1.5 hr drive to meeting spot so SD was still in PJ's & her hair wasn't done but she was clean with brushed teeth.

SD gets out of the car & BM is like "LOOK AT HER! LOOK AT HOW BAD HER HAIR LOOKS! LOOK HOW CHAPPED HER LIPS ARE! SHE'S IN HER PAJAMAS FOR GODS SAKE!" & SD cries & cries & cries because she had on new PJ's to show off to BM Sad

Now she's so self conscious about her lips being chapped she licks her lips all day long & it makes them break out. Ugh.

VENUS452's picture

That's just terrible!!!! They think they are hurting the dad's by doing these things, they cannot even comprehend the damage it's doing to their child. Makes me sick!!!

Maxwell09's picture

Just keep telling DH to encourage skids own thinking. "If you like it, then I like it too". It's playing the same game BM is trying to play except in the positive. Just keep being supportive. Sounds like ss needs someone to encourage his free thinking so do just that.