I have a question for a friend.
She has a baby who is one year old this month (slightly younger than my baby, but close in age). She has children who are older too. She says her husband will not help with the children at all and gets very angry with her when she speaks to him ever. Her husband apparently just gets so angry at the children all the time too that they do not want to be left with him. She has not mentioned hitting or anything though so I assume that is not going on, but it could be.
She called me last night in a panic because apparently, she asked her husband to give the baby a bath and he blew up at her for it, but did it anyway. She was reading books to the older children and getting them to bed. But when she came back to the bathroom, her husband had fallen asleep in a chair in the bathroom, sitting up, while the baby was in the tub, with water in the tub. She has no idea as to how long he had been asleep. She tells me he drinks heavily and is very addicted to computer games and spends most of his time, when not at work, playing computer games and drinking. He rarely does much else and has no friends, but has coworkers he might be friends with, and wants no contact with other people. He has holed himself up in his office pretty much around the clock when not at work.
She wants to leave him, but lawyers she has seen have told her that without proof that he is like this, he would get joint custody. And if she pushed it, the courts could even give him full custody, which they have done in the past, due to her being labeled a vindictive parent. She says she cannot leave him because she cannot risk him being left alone with the children.
What do you all suggest? I am not sure about this stuff but I feel awful for her. She feels trapped.
She has a baby who is one year old this month (slightly younger than my baby, but close in age). She has children who are older too. She says her husband will not help with the children at all and gets very angry with her when she speaks to him ever. Her husband apparently just gets so angry at the children all the time too that they do not want to be left with him. She has not mentioned hitting or anything though so I assume that is not going on, but it could be.
She called me last night in a panic because apparently, she asked her husband to give the baby a bath and he blew up at her for it, but did it anyway. She was reading books to the older children and getting them to bed. But when she came back to the bathroom, her husband had fallen asleep in a chair in the bathroom, sitting up, while the baby was in the tub, with water in the tub. She has no idea as to how long he had been asleep. She tells me he drinks heavily and is very addicted to computer games and spends most of his time, when not at work, playing computer games and drinking. He rarely does much else and has no friends, but has coworkers he might be friends with, and wants no contact with other people. He has holed himself up in his office pretty much around the clock when not at work.
She wants to leave him, but lawyers she has seen have told her that without proof that he is like this, he would get joint custody. And if she pushed it, the courts could even give him full custody, which they have done in the past, due to her being labeled a vindictive parent. She says she cannot leave him because she cannot risk him being left alone with the children.
What do you all suggest? I am not sure about this stuff but I feel awful for her. She feels trapped.
