Turn in your man card....

This post.... is not so much about the current divorce as much as it is about the last divorce. My ex, the father of my children, is delusional.  He has no concept of children nor what it takes to raise them, emotionally or financially. Every scenario revolves around him, not our children. And everything is my fault, not his:  I think he is an ATM machine.  I don't force the children to love him.  I involve him in discipline and it backfires because he is no longer Disneyland Dad. Actually, I think more so than a Disneyland dad, he would, at best, be a clunky carnival in an abandoned parking lot dad. I have sat back and let him bully me and my children for twelve years. I have forced the children to go to his house in order to foster some semblance of an opportunity to have a relationship with him. But alas, they are fourteen and I no longer feel that I should force them. I have kept my mouth shut and let them form their own opinions. I never wanted them to NOT see him and then romanticize the potential relationship and blame me when it didn't pan out.  Regardless, i have filed papers with the court for contempt.  He owes me money. I need money. End of story. I don't care about his knee surgery, I don't care about his friend's surgery. I have problems of my own and my world DAMN sure doesn't stop when my friends' parents are in the hospital, or when my father finds out that yet another skin cancer has to be removed, or when I don't have money for groceries or electricity. I trudge through. I figure it out. When my kids need something, I come up with it, by the grace of God and no thanks to their father. And now he wants to lose it with me because i am asking for money that he owes me? I didn't file a Motion for Modification. I could. I could ask for more money. Best I can figure, he is paying about $200 less per month than required by law. But I said i would continue to settle for that amount. I don't ask for much and he's done even less. The gloves are off and I hope it doesn't bite me in the ass. I already have to fight STBX, might as well throw BabyDaddy in the mix as well. Bring it on, boys. It's time to step up to the plate and be a man, or turn in your man card altogether.