How do you help?
My son feels very hurt and rejected by his father and I don't know what do to help him. He's seeing a therapist, but it's not quite enough. He has become extra clingy in the past few weeks -- he's 11 and he won't leave my side for hardly anything.
His father had made a big deal about the custody arrangement set by the court (I have residential custody; he is allowed to visit with ample notice and is not allowed to take them out of the state -- the bad thing is he lives overseas and can't get a visa to the U.S.). He has threatened to sue me for kidnapping and swears he'll take this case to the U.N.
Anyway, after all this, in reality, he shows them very little attention.
He only wants to talk via Skype because it costs him nothing. He hasn't called in three weeks.
The last time he called he told our son he's getting remarried. This has set off many nights of crying on my son's part.
The time before that he told our son he was going to take a shower and would call right back. Half an hour goes by and he IMs my son to say he's going to the bakery (at 3:30 a.m. his time). Another hour goes by and he IMs to say his microphone doesn't work and he'll call the next day. After this, my son felt like everything else was more important to his dad than himself.
Two small but typical exchanges. My son will be angry during the day and tell me he feels like his father doesn't care about him at all, but then at night he gets weepy and scared and talks about how he misses his dad.
The youngest is 4 and he doesn't really display emotions about his dad yet in a way that I can tell "Oh, this is about dad."
How have you helped your kids through spots like this or through an ex's decision to get into a relationship/get remarried?
My son feels very hurt and rejected by his father and I don't know what do to help him. He's seeing a therapist, but it's not quite enough. He has become extra clingy in the past few weeks -- he's 11 and he won't leave my side for hardly anything.
His father had made a big deal about the custody arrangement set by the court (I have residential custody; he is allowed to visit with ample notice and is not allowed to take them out of the state -- the bad thing is he lives overseas and can't get a visa to the U.S.). He has threatened to sue me for kidnapping and swears he'll take this case to the U.N.
Anyway, after all this, in reality, he shows them very little attention.
He only wants to talk via Skype because it costs him nothing. He hasn't called in three weeks.
The last time he called he told our son he's getting remarried. This has set off many nights of crying on my son's part.
The time before that he told our son he was going to take a shower and would call right back. Half an hour goes by and he IMs my son to say he's going to the bakery (at 3:30 a.m. his time). Another hour goes by and he IMs to say his microphone doesn't work and he'll call the next day. After this, my son felt like everything else was more important to his dad than himself.
Two small but typical exchanges. My son will be angry during the day and tell me he feels like his father doesn't care about him at all, but then at night he gets weepy and scared and talks about how he misses his dad.
The youngest is 4 and he doesn't really display emotions about his dad yet in a way that I can tell "Oh, this is about dad."
How have you helped your kids through spots like this or through an ex's decision to get into a relationship/get remarried?
Or just listen to them rant. It sucks-I'm sorry you're going through this 
