checking on the kids safety is harassment-LONG
So BM just said no to the kids being able to go to their aunts wedding in the Virgin Islands in October citing we "requested too far in advance" and we were welcome to request again in September"
So we are guessing as soon as the kids got in the car they fired at her the big "WHY???" which pissed her off and set her in a negative mood for the following...
We are in Illinois and the storm last night (right at the time BM was picking up the kids) had tornadoes reported, severe flash flooding where roads were shut down, multiple car wrecks and cars swept away by water. My husband sent a message through OFW:
“BM,
Because of the weather and tornado warnings in this area please let me know that the kids are safe when you get home.
DH”
She only lives 45 min away, so an hour after she picks up the kids, there is still no response. He calls her and leaves a voice mail saying,
"I am concerned for everyone's safety. Please let me know when the kids are safe at your home."
I was in the town she lives in and my husband called me and asked that I drive past her home and look for her vehicle parked outside. So, I did. And wouldn't you know it, she was right behind me and her boyfriend's vehicle right behind her. So I pulled into her neighbor’s driveway turned around and waved at the kids as I passed them.
She immediately sent:
“Kids are fine. why was your girlfriend pulling into my driveway when we got home? I will not ask again for the harassment to stop!”
Great so now I’m harassing her. And yes she still refers to me as his girlfriend, not his wife.
My husband responded:
“BM,
I was concerned that everyone made it to your home safely. When the tornado passed, I asked (amiwicked), my wife, to drive by your home on her way through town to see if you guys made it home ok. When she saw your car behind hers at your mailbox, she turned around in your neighbor's driveway and headed home.
DH”
BM fired back(surprisingly quickly so we did not look at it and went to bed)
We read this in the morning:
“First of all, I did not have a missed call or any voice mail from you. Secondly, I could not respond to you when you sent the msg because I was DRIVING and it is ILLEGAL to do so in ILLINOIS. Third, I do not need your girlfriend or anyone else to follow me around after I have picked up the children. As far you know we could have gone into town to eat dinner. Which in fact is NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS what I do with or without the kids during my scheduled time. Fourth, your girlfriend has no right to check up on you nor the children's whereabouts. She is not their parent nor their legal guardian. If you are going to call, message, and send your girlfriend looking for me every time I pick up our children I'm certain that this will be considered harassment. I feel as if it is. The past 3 times I have picked up the children you have messaged me complaining about something petty within 30 minutes of my departure from your home. I have a 45 minute drive plus bad weather time and you are expecting me to believe that you are worried about the kids! That is the last thing on your mind. The whole point of using this website was so you don't have to have interactions with me unless absolutely necessary. STOP ABUSING IT!!!”
My husband responded this morning:
“BM,
Our Family Wizard is not to limit communication but serves as a tool for documenting and improving it.
I do hope if you had stopped anywhere, you would have responded that the kids were safe.
Neither of us has ever followed you at any time and this is the first time (amiwicked), my wife, has been at your residence or place of business outside of an exchange time.
DH”
He thought about listing dates and proving there was no communication on the days she is alleging, but we decided that OFW would show proof of that.
BM responded back on her lunch break:
“I did exactly as you asked in the message. I messaged you back letting you know that the kids were home safe when in fact we arrived at home! Maybe you need to go back and read your message!!! Stay out of my personal life! You do not have any rights over me or say in what I do on my time with our children. Live with it!!!”
My husband said he was done with her crap. He corrected false allegations and that’s all the further he needed to do.
But apparently BM was still wanting a fight because without a response from DH she sent another message within the hour:
“Furthermore, you know how long it takes to get from your house to mine. You also know OBVIOUSLY, that the weather was bad, therefore the drive would TAKE MORE TIME. And, you know that I did not view the message until I arrived at my house and replied immediately letting you know that the kids were fine. There is absolutely no excuse for you or your girlfriend to continue to harass me or my family!!!”
And it has been silence for four hours now ( cross your fingers )
LOLOL She's a complete
LOLOL She's a complete psychopath. Probably just mad the kids called her out on her BS.
BTW, I LOVE how she keeps calling you his girlfriend.
BM did that when DH & I were engaged. We were still dumb enough to go to joint events for SD7's birthday. (at the time she was turning 5).
Anyway - BM introduced me to all her buddies as "SD7's dad's girlfriend"
Luckily, they all saw the rock on my finger & looked at her like she was pathetic (she is)
furthurmore, you can actually
furthurmore, you can actually do a police wellness check if it has been a certain amount of time without hearing from the kids in our state. We were going to send one to BM's house when she was on one of her "I'm not going to let you talk to SD for 2 weeks" rages. DH called one last time & left a VM saying he was going to send the police for a wellness check because he hadn't heard from SD in 2 weeks. She called back IMMEDIATELY.
A wellness check! I'm going
A wellness check! I'm going to have to check and see if OH has the same thing!
2 weeks isn't an hour - the
2 weeks isn't an hour - the cops would likely laugh at that.
Hahaha I spoke too soon! She
Hahaha I spoke too soon! She just sent another message!!
"Any further matters should be discussed before the judge. I don't feel this is necessary banter. Family wizard is supplying everyone with the information and history of such that is needed.
Please stop harassing me.
Thank you.
BM"
3 messages later without
3 messages later without responses from your DH to encourage a response from her?
And you're harassing her how?
I'm sure it will be easy to
I'm sure it will be easy to find proof of the issued warning. A major interstate was shut down temporarily because of it and that ended up in the 11pm news on tv so I know it was well covered by the media. We can search for a few articles and pictures of the flooded roads between our home and her's and load them into his files on OFW for documentation.
My ex and I are just like
My ex and I are just like you - friendly talk. No bullshit back and forth. It helps so much for the children. Why can't these crazy BMS just be grateful that the fathers care enough to check?
BM, as I do not have a
BM, as I do not have a girlfriend I am unaware of who was following you and harrassing you. I hope you find out who this was. My WIFE was in your vicinity and checked you ALL got home in one piece. ..
LOVE THIS
LOVE THIS
The only communication
The only communication between BM and DH is OFW,.... no texting... OFW shows no communication At All on the days she is claiming.
She is lying flat out.
There was a tornado touch
There was a tornado touch down. But he was actually more worried about the flood waters.
I sort of agree with you. My
I sort of agree with you. My exH and I are friendly but I am not a fan of his fiance and if I saw her driving past my house I would be really freaked out no matter what the circumstances were.
My FDH's ex did drive past my house a few times but she was actually stalking/harassing me but after she started driving past my house I filed for a no contact and the police contacted her and warned her.
It's clear you are not harassing her but I would try not to throw any fuel on the fire. She's already high conflict and anything that can stir the pot for her will cause her to flair up and cause issues with you, skids, and DH.
Are the kids old enough to have their own cell phones or a even a prepaid phone that you guys pay for that they can be reached on and can contact you and DH on in times like these or for just general communication?
Yep, they need to leave her
Yep, they need to leave her alone period.
Wouldn't it have been easier
Wouldn't it have been easier to simply ask the kids to let him know when they arrived safely? Getting worked up after an hour is a bit over the top, IMO.
She does not let the kids
She does not let the kids have any communication with anyone from our side of the family while she has them. They are not allowed to call, get on the computer to log into social media, nothing. And my husband was worried, but the -only- reason I was going to do a drive by was because I was already in the town she lives in and her street was on the path to my own home.
And I guess the first post wasn't clear. DH sent the message on OFW when she was picking up the kids. He left a voicemail saying the same an hour after when reasonably she should have been home. I did not drive by until 2 hours after she picked up the kids. So she was saying the 45 min drive took 2 hours.
But anyway, I am definitely never going by her home again, for any reason. I got on google and found an alternative path to take home that does not go near her home.
The drive may well have taken
The drive may well have taken that long. I could see that. Stop at the store, grab a bite to eat, ride out any bad rain, etc. I'd be kind of peeved if I were held to an hour, too.
Just from a different perspective.
Generally, in the middle of a
Generally, in the middle of a tornado warning with highways closed & such - you don't stop out to get a bite to eat. Maybe I'm wrong, but I'd head straight home.
However, as DH's wife, I wouldn't drive past BM's house at all ever. She's crazy & I don't'w ant her driving past MY house, so I believe in treating her how i want to be treated.
I could not agree more! This
I could not agree more! This fear of being controlled is very deep, lives in the control freak's very core, and has nothing to do with the biological bond ( mother - children).
I see it in my sons's SM's behavior all the time. I was trying to get my ex to tell me when he will pick the boys up for their spring break last year, and the SM kept having temper tantrums to the tune of, "I will not be told when the boys will be at MY house, you are trying to control me!" My ex is her lap dog with no will of his own, but i remember being struck by that logic, "I do not care what the school calendar says, *I* will tell you when i am ready to take them, do not try to dictate their visits to me!"
So during previous years, to avoid being dictated to, she and my ex would leave town and go to Florida during my boys' spring breaks. Just the two of them! No one will be allowed to control *their* vacations!
wow Pilgrim, you have a crazy
wow Pilgrim, you have a crazy SM too???..hell I was beginning to think I was the only one on here that had one of those...!
Well, FG, I wish it was only
Well, FG, I wish it was only you on here with this problem
Do you feel like you are in a sandwich? Crazy BM on the one side, crazy SM on the other side.
As my DH likes to say, why can't everyone be perfect like us???
I think we need a forum just for SMs who are BMs in a tug of war with CRAZY SMs.
How many of us do you think have this double whammy on our hands?
Another - unlikely - explanation could be that they are all LOVELY LADIES and we are the crazy ones!
I wonder where crazy BM's who
I wonder where crazy BM's who deal with crazy SM's vent, & vise versa? I bet that's entertaining.
the same place crazy SM's go
the same place crazy SM's go to vent about crazy BM's.....it's called Steptalk....
it sucks Pilgrim... but you
it sucks Pilgrim...
but you may be right...dealing with both BM/SM, may have made us crazy!!!!!
BM has taken two of the kids
BM has taken two of the kids to the ER without telling DH. I've for a broken foot and another kid for stitches.
She is high conflict.
One summer when the girls
One summer when the girls were with us, DF had to take SD9 to the ER. It never occurred to either of us to call BM.
When the girls are with their mom she only informs DF about ER visits if she wants a ride home.
Like an op said, in the
Like an op said, in the future, have the police do a wellness check. I'm glad dh wanted to know the kids were safe. If it was a gorgeous day out it would've been extreme. But not given that a tornado was coming.
nuts. the only thing ill add
nuts.
the only thing ill add is the whole girlfriend thing. BM and her attorney still refer to me as girlfriend even tho im fiancé. since the engagement, SD has always referred to me as "your future wife" but suddenly in the past 2 weeks she has now reverted to "girlfriend".
do these nutso people think if they call us girlfriend that it makes our marital/engaged status not true????
I'm so glad BM is moving off
I'm so glad BM is moving off our main strip - now I have no reason to have to drive by seeing her trashy butt sitting outside smoking...or her telling DH that every silver sedan car that drives by is me stalking her.....mind you at most I'd have to drive by once a week to avoid traffic, and she was off one of the main strips.
I drove that way first...and
I drove that way first...and like I said it was semi off the one of the main strips...honestly we could see her better than she could see who was driving by....he road pretty much V'd off of the main so there was a convenience store so her being able to say I was constantly driving by was insane besides the fact I work 80 miles away. If I saw SS out I would honk but he really didn't know it was me until he was the one asking me to honk but BM was clueless to what was going on. This house was behind a bar and convenience store...real safe since she would let SS ride in the street...I'm not sure if she's completely moved but very relieved the days of seeing her as I drive through town are getting more slim.
Drag her ass to court now and
Drag her ass to court now and start smacking her in the mouth with a rolled up copy of the CO. (Figuratively of course) The only way to fix toxicity this foul is to destroy BM legally, financially and socially.
Have fun with the destruction of BM campaign. }:)
I'm going to give both you
I'm going to give both you and your DH a break on this one. I too live in Illinois, luckily this time at least over an hour from the tornadoes (and yes at least four confirmed on the ground that day). With a mega amount of snow piled everywhere, the ground still very much frozen, 50something degrees and raining that day too, water had nowhere to go. It wasn't the best of days trying to drive around. So I very much 'get' Dh's concern.
With that said, you're going to have to come up with a plan for such type of concerns. Dh would have been better off to flat out ask BM to please give him a call or one time allowed text to let him know they made it and were all ok. Otherwise he is going to have to go with the wizard and sit and wait her out, which of course leaves him stresses since all he wants to know is they made it. Anyone traveling rural in this type of weather knows what is normally 45 minutes may be an hour or even two. Because yes, it's not always sensible to head out into the rural roads but to remain in relatively safer areas of the town you happen to be in.
Yes, your Dh wizard messaged BM. It's presumptuous though to expect BM to race home, a car of yakking kids, the weather what it was and race to her computer to check her OFW immediately and respond. After just arriving home I'd not run check some online thing either, I'd unload, get kids settled blah blah. BM is also correct in that she can not answer texts or her phone while driving unless she has an hands free set up such as Bluetooth. You likely did startle BM driving infront of her house. At that point she's unaware of any OFW message, does know Dh just tried to call her but couldn't answer and now there you are at her driveway.
Oh well. Lesson learned the hard way and lots of unnecessary wizard smacking going back and forth. DH needs to ask her about bad weather communications being acceptable on both their parts. If she refuses, nothing he can do about it but wait for her to get around checking OFW and responding. It's the chance DH took when he had the CO set up with all communication being through the program. With your BM being so high conflict I do feel bad for your DH. Poor guy was just worried about his kiddos.
lol...that's funny right
lol...that's funny right there!
If the tables were turned,
If the tables were turned, and our BM was doing this to us, I would be LIVID. It would make me uncomfortable and it's completely unnecessary.
He texted and asked for confirmation she made it home. She wasn't home .. she didn't text. She's right .. what if she did go out to eat, or stop at a store? That's none of his business. He should have no expectations of her going straight home and calling/texting as soon as she makes it, UNLESS they've agreed to that prior.
I think it's over the top, and like I said, if the tables were turned, I would be just as upset as she was. Not just about the text/voicemail, but about the continued email exchange. It all seems excessive, IMO.
If the weather conditions were really THAT bad, why did DH let the skids get in the car in the first place?
THIS DF would let BM have it
THIS
DF would let BM have it if she pulled something like this.
♥♥♥♥♥♥
♥♥♥♥♥♥
DH was concerned about the
DH was concerned about the kids and asked her to let him know when they were home safe. Fine. Reasonable. But that's the LAST reasonable thing you guys did. Going to her home 2 hours later was unreasonable. And then DH made it worse with his responses! What he SHOULD have said was, "I apologize. In my concern for the kids I didn't think how it might look to you if you saw my wife in front of your house. I realize that must have been a surprise, and I'm sorry." Instead he was more concerned with proving he was right. What the hell did you expect her to say to his responses? "OH! I see, you thought you were RIGHT! And my feelings on the matter, and whether I felt like you were spying on me or harassing me, should be ignored. Well of course that changes everything!" Have you even TRIED putting yourself in her shoes?? What if you find her driving past your house spying on you, wouldn't that make YOU uncomfortable? Wouldn't you wonder if she'd done it before? DH overreacted, and he was wrong. He should apologize.
Texting one time for
Texting one time for confirmation when they get home safe; sure.
Texting and calling and then driving past her house?
Surely you can see the difference in these two scenarios.
What??? He did more than just
What???
He did more than just ask if the kids were OK.
Didn't you just blog about trying to get your SO to stop responding ASAP every time BM calls and wants to speak to your SKs?
By that logic, OP should be
By that logic, OP should be perfectly fine with it if BM wants to drive by their house when she pleases in order to see when they're home and when they're not. I suspect OP would NOT be pleased to find BM driving by her house to "check on them" though.
partyof7, not sure if you're
partyof7, not sure if you're replying to me or not (legitimately, not sure if it's the way my browser is displaying or what but I'm finding the order of posts a bit confusing), but if so...
I never said OP's H shouldn't have contacted the BM - in fact I said it's the one and only reasonable thing he did.
However, you said, "If Dad isn't allowed to ask if kids are alright, neither does BM when they are with Dad. I bet that wouldn't go over so well with the BM." I was pointing out that that "good for the gander" stance wouldn't work out so well for the OP since then BM could also reasonably say she gets to drive by their house to check on their whereabouts.
Just to clarify, I DO think DH was perfectly reasonable in asking BM to let him know when the kids got home safely. I think having SM drive by her house was completely over the top and he should apologize for it.
I may be in the minority
I may be in the minority here, but if her normal drive time is 45 minutes, given less-than-desirable weather conditions, I would expect drive time to be longer. Not to mention, maybe there were stops to be made on the way home.
IMO, anyone going by her house to check up on them because she didn't respond within a certain amount of time was uncalled for. The fact that it was YOU driving by her house makes it even more out of line.
She's a parent, just like he is. She's capable of taking care of her children, just like he is.
I'd be livid to EVER spot BM driving by my house.
I agree with the BM in this case.
I read a few of the
I read a few of the responses, and I just wanted to add that this whole thing is crazy to me. I mean, if something HAD happened to the kids, his only benefit would be finding out earlier...it's not like he could have done anything! And why drive by the house? Makes no sense to me. He's panicking before she even has a chance to get back to the house. Weird. It's like he's looking for an excuse to engage in conflict with her. BM might be crazy, but DH is driving the crazy car. I live in the midwest and we get all kinds of crazy weather all the time. It's scary. But his reaction is overkill. Leave the crazy woman alone.
Serene - Yeah, but that cuts
Serene - Yeah, but that cuts both ways. If BF doesn't want to deal with a HC nut case then he should try to LOWER the conflict and work with her instead of trying to spy on her, and if he doesn't then he brings it on himself. I agree with onthefence - she may be nuts, but BF is driving the crazy train. First he did something pretty much *guaranteed* to bring on the crazy and then when it did, he poked at it rather than trying to smooth it out. Maybe he's generally a more soothing and easy going guy, but in this case at least, any conflict is entirely his fault.
Exactly. And I would not let
Exactly. And I would not let the kids go to some aunt's wedding in the Virgin islands. In fact, after that episode I would move a few hours away. Also she's the mother, and they were in her care..so I think there is something else going on here with the dh.
Wait, this the mom who won't
Wait, this the mom who won't give an early reply about the wedding?
Isn't it common for this dad to ignore mom's emails/texts until he's ready to deal with them? Maybe mom was giving him a taste of his own medicine.
Pesonally, I think your DH
Pesonally, I think your DH was jumping the gun a little bit by waiting only an hour, when the drive takes normally 45 minutes, and the weather was bad. That isn't even allowing time for BM to stop at the store for a gallon of milk if she needed to. Also, if communication is to be through OFW then him calling her and leaving a voicemail was not necessary and was opening the door for some complaints from BM. I personally don't think she was acting like a crazy BM at all...except for the repeat emails. But, that could also be a case of her being angry and thinking of other things later, and wanting them to be addressed…who knows.
I would be pissed too if I felt that I hadn’t even been given a chance to respond before the cavalry (aka you) had been sent.