You are here

I'm Also Taking Bets

step off already's picture

Things have been pretty good at my house lately on the Blended Family Front, lol.

SS13 still asks us about Private School often, but he knows its not going to happen. We've been trying to play up the local public school and talking to him about the Frosh Football team. He is excited.

But let me remind you that this past summer BM talked SS out of playing for our local Pop Warner league because she didn't want to make the drive to practice, but she told him she was afraid he'd get hurt. This was just months after she had her neighbor write a letter to the judge stating what a good parent she was, that she always played catch with SS in the street with his football and that SS had a natural ability. It backfired on BM and the judge said that since SS had this "natural ability" for football, both parents should do everything they could to help him develop - including taking him to practice and games. So it was put in the court order in February. BM never took him to anything all of last year.

We laid low as we were busy having our baby and we wanted to build our case for contempt, reducing her visitaion, her breaking the RO, etc, etc.

So we haven't bothered telling BM about football yet. It starts in the summer and goes through the fall. The sooner we tell her, the more time she'll have to talk SS out of it.

Our hope is that he will have something (football) at the new school to help him make friends, give him access to something he really likes doing, and keep him focused on positive things.

So, let's play a game.

What's your prediction on what BM will do when we alert her in the late spring to SS's desire to play football. We will let her know what the practice schedule is (they start in july and go Mon - Sat right up untill school starts late august. The new school schedule already messes up our planned two weeks on/off schedule, so I'm sure she'll have something to say/argue about the summer schedule anyway. We will propose that she do her first two week extended visit at the beginning of the summer but that if she doesn't want to drive him to practice each day, we can revert back to our every other weekend visitation schedule.

Anyone want to make a prediction?

Comments

askYOURdad's picture

I bet this time she really took what the judge said to heart and you will see her put her son first and drive him to and from football along with encouraging him to practice and play well. She will also understand that the schedule change is what's best for him and not fight you on that.... :sick: aren't I funny?

Ok, my prediction, she will come up with some excuse why she doesn't want him to play. Use some typical PAS tactics to try and convince him that he doesn't want to play. Tons of fighting back and forth, stress on SS and at the end of the day will revert to EOWE so she doesn't have to drive him to practice.

step off already's picture

LOL. You had me laughing there at the beginning with that tongue of yours in your cheek!

It's the tons of fighting that I'm not looking forward to.

Though, in the past, when DH tried to get her to take her son to football, she would say, "I'll talk to SS and see what he really wants" But at that point SS was younger and would just want to please his mom.

I'm interested to see if he can be truthful with his mom at this point.

Last summer was his first and only summer that he did two weeks on/off at his mother's house. And he was bored, to say the least. Our house is all about the kids activities: baseball, summer camp, day trips, weekend getaways, etc. Her house is: sit here with my girlfriend's parents and play video games while I go to work and when I get home we'll walk around the block.

askYOURdad's picture

The only thing that gets me through dealing with BM is humor, sarcasm and the fact that dealing with BM outweighs life in prison... I know the fighting is always the worst. You will have to keep us updated what SS does. My steps are still fairly young, I keep thinking someday they will have that ah-ha moment. Your step life sounds similar to ours with the differences in households.

Starla's picture

BM will fight back tears long enough to tell SS about her football player friend who ended up severely hurt and that he will never be able to walk again. Then she starts sobbing and lays on the guilt about how she doesn't want SS to go through all that pain and suffering like her friend went through. As SS takes it all in, BM will start buttering him up with how brave, smart, active, and such that he is then she expresses how his life is just beginning following with all of her hopes and dreams for him. :sick:

step off already's picture

Well... if she was able to keep any friends for longer than 3 months, this one might be a contender.