Just finished yet another argument with FH regarding his permissive parenting. He is simply incapable of telling his teenage kids "no." His version is to say "I would rather that you did not" and let the kids make their own decisions. This, as expected, leads to the kids making appalling decisions and, contrary to his fervent belief, NOT learning life lessons from them because they end up getting what they want with zero consequences.

It finally hit me that I do not want to parent with him. It would be a nightmare of me having to be the disciplinarian mom 24/7 in order to balance out his "disney dad/parent as friend" style of parenting. That is no way to live. And besides, any child would naturally gravitate to the fun parent rather than the strict one and I would have a lovely case of PAS in my very own home. Not to mention a child that is a carbon copy of the spoiled rotten entitled children that he has already produced. There is no way in hell I could live with a child of mine turning out that way. I would have to hang my head in shame.

Many people end up raising children with people whose parenting styles do not mesh with theirs. But they had no way of knowing until the children came along. I, however, already know how FH functions as a parent. If I adopted a child with him, I would have only myself to blame for the chaos that would result. So my choice is to stay with him - because I genuinely do love him - and remain childless or leave and either find a man whose parenting style is compatible with mine or be a single mother. Thanks, FH, really. Can't tell you how much I appreciate this side-effect of being with you!