I have no idea how the non-custodial parent does i

[naeljun]

DD has been with her Dad since Sunday for his 2nd week of vacation. I miss her so much. I have no idea how he can deal with not seeing her every day.

[doriswe]

I know that both of my kids' dads are okay with the fun parent role....and would never survive parenting full time! I think they like having a few hours of fun time and then letting me do all the work!

I've never been away from my kids longer than 5 days....I'm slated to go to Mexico for a week and have no clue how I'll go that long without them!

[turtle1120]

My DD's dad couldn't handle being a full-time parent either. He acts like he's all committed and a great parent, but he can't even find the time to take advantage of his weekday visitation with her. So comparing how he deals with it to how hard it would be for me to do it, is like comparing apples to oranges.

Hang in there! She'll be home before you know it! Can you give her a call at least to say hi?

[heavenly]

It is interesting... xh does show excitement to see ds every other weekend and 2 hours on Tuesdays and Thursdays. When I asked him to watch Cole for an extra hour in advance, he gets all upset how it messes up his free time.

However, I do notice when ds is with his dad for a week, that xh is even more bonded and sad to see ds go back home until he gets use to his free time again. For him it is almost like the more he has ds, the more he misses him. The less time he has him, he can't wait to get back to his dad free routine again.

[chrissie3416]

My DD's dad couldn't handle it either. He'd lose it. He can barely handle having her for the whole weekend.
I was away all weekend and I called to talk to her every day even if it was just for a minute.
Feel better!

[roselis]

While XH was in FL we did video chat so he could see him. Could you do that?

[formerlyknownasefl]

I think it's just a motherly instinct or something. I always say I can't wait for a break from DS and then when he does go to my parents or his dad's I miss him like crazy!!!

STBX will go three weeks sometimes without seeing DS and I have NO clue how he does it. I would literally DIE.

[formerlyknownasefl]

Oct 11, 2012 10:06:11 GMT -5 jellymankelly said:

I wonder the same. XH is coming for 2 days at the end of this month and it'll have been 6 weeks since he last saw them. I miss them when they are gone for more than a few hours! I guess some people are just wired differently. XH is, as he puts it, "Out there living a life," so I guess the fact that he misses (?) the kids gets lost in all of the "living" he's doing.

LOL your ex sounds like mine. He's focusing on "him" right now ....

[prettyinpearls]

Oct 11, 2012 10:01:51 GMT -5 turtle1120 said:

My DD's dad couldn't handle being a full-time parent either. He acts like he's all committed and a great parent, but he can't even find the time to take advantage of his weekday visitation with her. So comparing how he deals with it to how hard it would be for me to do it, is like comparing apples to oranges.

Were we married to the same person? This is my XH, exactly. He likes to have the "woe is me" mentality and say I live too far away for him to use his Wednesday visits....but he hasn't used ONE in the last 2 years. Not even when we lived 30 minutes apart and he was laid off for months at a time. Not once.

[Bernadine]

I feel so bad for J that he doesn't have more time with his son. He gets so excited to see him. He has him Tuesday nights for a few hours, and then switches each week between Friday and Saturday nights.

[achase123]

I know XH loves to have P for short amounts of time, preferably when family is around to help. He likes the fun part, not the work part of being a parent.

[farfalla2011]

I know BF really misses his kids. He would totally love being the custodial parent, and would do a great job at it. Anytime he and his XW have swapped weekends here or there, he just about goes crazy not seeing his kids 2 weekends in a row.

It makes me very sad to know there are so many guys out there that can't get their shit together when it comes to their kids

[doriswe]

XH used to tell me allllll the time how much he missed his kids when they weren't with us. But when they were with us, he'd hardly interact with them or anything.

[stephbfan]

My ex would love to have DD for more time and he actually tried to have full physical custody with me having visitation. I'm sure he would have been fine handling having her full time.

How he does it? I don't know. It breaks my heart to not have her for 3 weeks at a time so I cannot imagine not being able to see her for 3 months. He is the type that doesn't show his emotions and he still cries when he is dropping us off at the airport. We Skype but its not the same. I feel bad and I wish that we could live close to each other.

[roselis]

XH is a custodial parent, as am I. I think if something happened to me and he got A full time, he would do fine. I know he had a hard time spending the week away from A.
I really wish more single dads were like XH in that regard.....