hello
keen to get people’s views on this….
My eldest turns 6 next week. Her dad is useless and hadn’t really thought about her birthday, he sees our children about once (sometimes twice) a fortnight (that’s as often as he wants to and for a number of reasons they are supervised visits). I talked to him about her birthday and asked if he would like some ideas of gifts to give her. He said yes, so I’ve sent him a list with some ideas of things she would really like. (Not expensive things, as he doesn’t have a full time job, he just has casual work, and he doesn’t pay any child maintenance).
If I didn’t do give him ideas, she might not have received a present from him, or if she did, it would not be age appropriate as he doesn’t have a very close relationship with her and has no idea of things she would like.
Some of my family/friends think this was wrong and I should have just left him to it… and if he didn’t give her a present then so be it. They say I’m protecting my daughter from finding out what he is like and that it will be a harder lesson to learn the older she gets.
Her dad and I separated last November but because it was all very recent, I bought the Christmas presents and said they were from mummy and daddy… so this is the first birthday I’ve had to think about it.
Interested to to know what other single parents think!
Thank you
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