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My Dad remarried the worse spouse!

(209 Posts)
marn1186 Fri 17-Nov-23 17:49:01

Hey, I’m looking for some other ears and eyeballs on a difficult situation with my 70-year-old dad.

My mom divorced my dad after almost 30 years of being married. At his time, all 5 of his kids were leaving for college or getting a job/career (kids ages around 19-27). So, my dad goes from being married and 5 kids to being quite lonely. I know he was down on himself and in the dumps between everything that goes with divorce and children leaving the house. Anyways, not too long after the divorce, he meets another lady(eHarmony) and goes from being in the dumps to happily dating. During the dating phase, I would regularly stay with my dad, where sometimes his new girlfriend would be present. I quickly read this lady for 6-12 months during the dating phase and KNEW she was full of red flags, but I didn’t say much because my dad was enjoying dating/life and could tell it was good for him after such a life change of his divorce and kids leaving the house. To be clear, he and my mother parted ways because they grew far apart and became complete opposites.

Fast forward to my dad remarrying in 2011 (his new spouses 2nd marriage too), and he's been re-married for over 12 years (kids are now married and ages 31, 33, 37, 39). There are now 6 grandchildren in the picture. There is no bitterness from me or my siblings over my dad re-marrying, but IMMEDIATELY, his new spouse started jeopardizing my relationship with my dad, and the same for my 4 other siblings. The root cause of our degrading relationship with our father all links directly to my dad's spouse. To put it clearly, she is one of the most sour and unpleasant people I know. She is the “Karen of Karens” and can ruin just about any father gathering. Most of what she does is make nasty comments, passive-aggressive comments, or just demonstrate insane behavior. Unfortunately, my dad is unbelievably oblivious to how egregious his spouse's behavior is, or he plays intentional ignorance (easily a combination of both). At the same time, he’s made comments recognizing his spouse “has problems”.

I truly believe any other normal human would divorce a spouse that hurts relationships with kids or grandkids. I’m not asking my dad to do this, but I have told him since he won’t correct the situation with his spouse that, he will need to visit with us without her. Please know we have tried and tried to accommodate him and his spouse for 12 years even though she’s treated us and my dad terribly for over a decade.

Over the years, examples of my dad's spouse:

-When they were first dating, she attempted to make nasty comments about me moving (they maybe had been dating 3 months) home with dad after I was laid off from my first corporate job in 2009 and also severely suffering from a disease Ulcerative colitis (really tough). I let these comments go to not rock the boat as my dad was happy. Essentially, she was calling me a mooch for moving back home for a short time do get back on my feet getting a new job, and get my health figured out (22-23 years old at the time).
-After my dad's divorce, my dad was struggling financially, and she would criticize him for this. She would brag they had a prenuptial agreement but now she’s mad about it because my dad his now doing much better financially shes now she wants to know all about his money.
-Dozens of examples of bashing our family members, my mom, and even my mother's grandmother. She bashes my aunts and uncles on both my dad’s and my mother's side. My dad’s new spouse gets very jealous of anyone that people like, and her automatic behavior is to bash anyone that is well liked.
-She is often very mean to my dad and does this in front of all his kids.
-To be clear, I married in 2011, and she had just started dating dad. She stopped my dad from coming to my wedding because I told my dad your “new date” wasn’t sitting up front in the wedding with my mother. So yes, you could say I wasn’t willing to let my dad “bring his new date” to my wedding and jeopardize the day for my mom. Anyway, my dad missed my wedding over this, and I let this go quickly. The remedy was I would throw a celebratory party with family (I had a small destination wedding), and my dad thought this was a replacement for attending my wedding. I really did question my dad at this point in my life.
-Almost all family parties/holidays end with some kind of verbal incident with my dad’s spouse and one of my siblings. Usually ruining the gathering.
-Things are starting to get ugly because now my dad’s spouse is saying nasty things to my wife and my other sibling's spouses. Oh boy, this is where gatherings get ugly.
-She does NOT like young children. She doesn’t like the kids to play in the house, to loud, to dirty/messy.
-She has no interest in spending any time with grandchildren and really doesn’t let my dad spend time with his grandchildren.
-She won’t let him visit his kids alone/without her.
-She gets very drunk at most family parties to the point where she passes out on the couch or chair in the room (this has happened more than I can count).
-My spouse can barely tolerate being in the same room with her or traveling to see my dad whatsoever because dad's spouse.
-She is unhappy and mad at the world over her childhood.
-I’ve seen her throw/push a toddler to the ground because toddler was having a typical toddler meltdown (it was my daughter, who was only 20 months old).
-Recently, she got drunk and told my wife that our kids are terrible, don’t listen, and are very messy + we keep our kids from her and my dad (you can imagine how well this went over). My wife put her in her place (verbally), and even my dad, who witnessed all of it, fully supported everything my wife said to his own spouse.
-She won’t let us visit her house with our dogs but will allow her friends to stay at her house with their dogs and stay for weeks at a time.
-During family parties at their house, you will see her throwing objects across the kitchen (plates, forks, spoons) because she can't handle how dirty/unorganized a kitchen can get during a large family party (20+ people). She is out of touch with reality and thinks every minute of a family party should look like the Ritz-Carlton.
-She is nasty, and I’ve seen her comment on young children’s body and appearance (even her own grand daughter). She’s called kids fat, and I’ve seen her not let her own granddaughter have a snack because she thinks they’re getting too fat.
-when we lived out of state, she visited with my dad for Thanksgiving, and immediately upon arrival, she demanded cleaning supplies from my wife to disinfect her room (we had just had the house professionally cleaned). She also started to aggressively clean anything in the house in front of my wife (pans/backsplash During this same visit, she couldn’t stop trash-talking my sister and my grandmother, and suddenly, the gathering was ruined because my sister-in-law decided to stick up for us and loudly told my dad’s spouse to STFU! Many things like this have happened over the years.
-My dad has 5 kids in the Midwest, and she attempted to get my dad to move away to California so she could be closer to her kids and better weather. My dad stated from the beginning that he will never leave home.
-She really has no genuine interest in visiting with my dad’s kids or grandchildren. It is 100% for show so she can tell other people that she visits with us (it's all so disingenuous).

I could write for pages and pages…

Anyways, I know my dad has made the mistake of a lifetime. My siblings and I have made our best attempt to work around my dad and his deranged spouse for over a decade. I feel like I’ve lost 13 years of good times with my dad because of her and how difficult she is… and may only have 10 years left with my dad. My wife and I can no longer tolerate her toxic/negative attitude to the point of barely speaking with my dad or seeing him (he knows this). My siblings feel the same way along with their spouses and are upset with him over enabling and allowing his spouses toxicity over his own kids and grandchildren. My dad has not seen his 5 kids or grand children for 6 months because of his toxic spouse.

I do want to hear other comments feedback on this bizarre situation. As a father, I do feel an obligation to keep toxic people like this away from my life and my young kids. We have dozens other people who care about us and genuinely want to spend time with us.

I feel like my dad needs to hear how wrong he is from a counselor/professional. I fear he is in cognitive decline, intentionally ignorant, or playing intentional head in the clouds. He is a very traditional human, and he finds doing anything without his wife to be an embarrassment or looks bad from an image standpoint…. and a divorce is just outrageous to him because of his image and pride. Again, I’ve simply told him do what you want but you need to visit with us without your toxic spouse. Unfortunately, it’s nearly impossible for his spouse to treat anyone with genuine respect and dignity anytime we see here. EVERYONE has had it and is at their wits end!!!!!

My dad wants to continue to force-feed us his toxic spouse and just make us all "deal with her".

We are all angryangry

Again, what do you all think of this? I'm happy to clarify in the comments as needed.

Madgran77 Mon 20-Nov-23 16:45:31

VioletSky The fact that this woman would physically throw a toddler to the ground was enough for me
Me to VS ! 😳

Smileless2012 Mon 20-Nov-23 16:53:33

Which is it? The OP says he saw her "throw/push a toddler to the ground. Neither of course is in anyway acceptable but there's a huge difference between throwing and pushing.

To throw something you first have to pick it up and suggesting this child, his own child was actually thrown conjures up a very disturbing image. Despite this abusive and violent act, the OP had continued to bring his children into contact with herconfused.

RosiesMaw Mon 20-Nov-23 16:58:29

You know when you are on the phone and the other person has hung up?
You can hear the echoing silence?
My bet is that OP hung up a while back.

Germanshepherdsmum Mon 20-Nov-23 17:00:53

I reckon you’re right.

eazybee Mon 20-Nov-23 17:03:29

Do you honestly believe this man ans his wife, would have allowed anyone, particularly his stepmother, to push or throw a child, albeit one having a tantrum, to the ground and allow them near his house ever again?

Germanshepherdsmum Mon 20-Nov-23 17:04:28

In a word - no.

Smileless2012 Mon 20-Nov-23 17:06:06

Absolutely not.

VioletSky Mon 20-Nov-23 17:52:09

eazybee

Do you honestly believe this man ans his wife, would have allowed anyone, particularly his stepmother, to push or throw a child, albeit one having a tantrum, to the ground and allow them near his house ever again?

Given the amount of comments who didn't think that was a big deal and ignored it on this very thread, some of who are now saying it can't have happened...

Yes I believe it...

That's families for you, evidence apparent all around you

Germanshepherdsmum Mon 20-Nov-23 17:55:13

What evidence would that be?

VioletSky Mon 20-Nov-23 18:03:56

In families?

Not sure anyone has time to list every possible thing that happens in every family

Especially when we have generations that still believe hitting a child is about punishment, not their own uncontrolled anger issues

Many younger generations still trying to shake off the impact that had

VioletSky Mon 20-Nov-23 18:05:08

To be fair, people within those generations didn't

But I am going by what was acceptable then versus now

Germanshepherdsmum Mon 20-Nov-23 18:14:20

I don’t see evidence apparent all around me. It’s sad if you do VS.

Glorianny Mon 20-Nov-23 18:35:28

The discrepancies in the timeline make me seriously doubt any of the accounts in this post.
He was living with his dad in 2009 when the woman criticised him.
In 2011 she was the new girlfriend when the son married, but the dad also married that year.
A 20month old toddler in a temper tantrum was "thrown to the floor" I think most people know that toddlers in temper tantrums often throw themselves to the floor.

Smileless2012 Mon 20-Nov-23 19:13:22

You're right Glorianny the timeline is very questionable.

Both are wrong but smacking children isn't in the same league as throwing a child to the floor.

NotSpaghetti Mon 20-Nov-23 21:35:54

"Smacking" can be truly terrible Smileless2012

RosiesMaw Mon 20-Nov-23 22:40:33

Both are wrong but smacking children isn't in the same league as throwing a child to the floor
Why are you falling into the trap of debating something which has no foundation except in OP's extremely dubious rant?
It's all nonsense and OP has surely long since left the building

Smileless2012 Mon 20-Nov-23 22:50:01

Yes it can NotSpaghetti but throwing a child to the floor is as I posted, in a different league.

Callistemon21 Mon 20-Nov-23 23:00:08

RosiesMaw

^Both are wrong but smacking children isn't in the same league as throwing a child to the floor^
Why are you falling into the trap of debating something which has no foundation except in OP's extremely dubious rant?
It's all nonsense and OP has surely long since left the building

It's all nonsense and OP has surely long since left the building

Along with Elvis, although he is working down the chip shop.

RosiesMaw Tue 21-Nov-23 00:04:35

Smileless2012

Yes it can NotSpaghetti but throwing a child to the floor is as I posted, in a different league.

It DIDNT HAPPEN Smileless

Elegran Tue 21-Nov-23 06:24:13

My theory is that the longer and more dramatic, detailed, and involved the original post is, the more likely it is to be the result of a fevered imagination or a desire to have a good laugh at the replies from a gullible audience. Later additions of further shocking details are a confirmation.

NotSpaghetti Tue 21-Nov-23 08:13:16

RosiesMaw

^Both are wrong but smacking children isn't in the same league as throwing a child to the floor^
Why are you falling into the trap of debating something which has no foundation except in OP's extremely dubious rant?
It's all nonsense and OP has surely long since left the building

I am not falling into any trap - I am allowed to make a statement RosiesMaw.
I could ask why it bothers you. I won't.

Smileless2012 Tue 21-Nov-23 08:17:27

Yes, I know it didn't happen Rosies.

Madgran77 Tue 21-Nov-23 08:22:54

Smileless2012

Which is it? The OP says he saw her "throw/push a toddler to the ground. Neither of course is in anyway acceptable but there's a huge difference between throwing and pushing.

To throw something you first have to pick it up and suggesting this child, his own child was actually thrown conjures up a very disturbing image. Despite this abusive and violent act, the OP had continued to bring his children into contact with herconfused.

True Smileless

RosiesMaw Tue 21-Nov-23 08:27:59

Absolutely Elegran - we see too much of these. No doubt somebody gets a kick out of seeing grannies get in a stress over his "shocking" revelations. Wind them and see them go!

RosiesMaw Tue 21-Nov-23 08:30:16

Bother me, Not Spaghetti ?
Simply because I don't like to see people's sympathetic good nature exploited and abused.
Feeding the t****.