Originally Posted by
LaTeeDa 
I'm concerned for your children. How are they handling all this on-again, off-again? Is there some way to suspend visitation for a period of time until he can prove he is stable?
L
Yes. I agree. I talked to our counselor/psychologist about that last week.
H is obviously on a roller coaster. MIL is a rider in his rollercoaster car, so she is always pushing visits and I am saying no and then she tantrums at ME.
Psych said I am being protective, and let them be angry if they want to.
He also spent a session with my oldest (age 8) on Friday and said that he has a good framework for the situation. I really expected H to be in hospital longer than 4 days so I thought we were having a long break from visits with Dad.
the older kids know that Dad hasn't been doing very well - that he has been sick and even went to a hospital - and that sometimes it will work out to see Dad and sometimes it won't. I am trying hard to manage their expectations
and keep the visits somewhat predictable but it is proving difficult with this volatile situation.
My daughter (7) was with her dad when he was so drunk and he had promised to take her to the carnival, so she was really hysterical over not getting to go to the carnival AND not getting to see her dad. That was a hard night.
It does suck. It sucks that they don't have a reliable dad who puts them first, and it sucks that he (and sometimes his family) blame ME for being unreasonable when I try to shield my kids from the constant whiplash.
