Kids, of course, have a built-in radar for which house comes with fewer rules and more perks.
One Redditor gets labeled as a deadbeat dad by his own daughter after doing what most would consider basicparenting.
Ohjust your standard emotional (and probably physical, as the OP suspects)affairon Marys part.
Post-divorce, things got rocky with Jess.
The OP tried the whole strict but fair parenting approach, while Mary went for the do-what-you-want style.
Guess which house Jess preferred?
Hint: not the one with actual rules.
And Jess is proof of that.
At 14, she was caught with illegal substances at school.
The OP, in true Dad fashion, laid down the law: no devices and behavior improvement required.
That was the last time Jess willingly stepped foot in his house.
So, when Jess turned 18, the OP stopped paying child support.
Legally, his obligations were over.
But according to Mary, cutting off thecashflow was abandonment.
Theproswould call this strategy parental alienation, which is the sneaky villain in many post-divorce horror stories.
This can look like exaggerating flaws, twisting past events, or straight-up rewriting history.
A kid who suddenly sees their once-beloved parent as the bad guy, often without realizing theyve been manipulated.
Like a separation isnt enough for a child, manipulating them into hating the other parent is just cruel.
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