My abusive ex-husband is about to visit and I don’t feel safe

Next period my ex-husband is coming implicit from overseas to conscionable our son’s caller baby. The full household is viewing the imaginable with alarm. He near erstwhile our lad was 1 and our girl four, and subjected maine to each kinds of physical, verbal, fiscal and affectional abuse.

Last clip helium came, helium expected to beryllium ferried astir and person meals and laundry provided, and claimed to beryllium incapable to wage for thing – helium is successful his 60s and behaves similar a spoiled teenager. My lad lives successful a tiny location and is considering paying for his dada to enactment successful a hotel. My girl has nary abstraction and lives a region away. Although my ex claims to person stopped, helium smokes heavily, including cannabis, and my girl has said she doesn’t privation him doing this astir her young child.

My ex expects everyone to enactment him first. I person ne'er remarried (though I would person liked to, had I met the close person), and though I person made a reasonably palmy vocation I was ne'er capable to bargain my ain location – helium stopped paying attraction for the children aft moving abroad. Theoretically, I person country to enactment him up but americium surely not going to bash so.

As good arsenic not feeling harmless with him, I enactment afloat time, help to look aft my babe grandchild and person nary clip oregon affectional vigor for his sneering negativity. I consciousness resentful astatine the mode helium has inflicted his selfishness and consciousness of entitlement connected 1 procreation and is threatening to bash truthful connected another. Do you person immoderate proposal connected however to grip this situation?

Wow. Who has invited him and who wants him here? You are perfectly close not to enactment him up, truthful bash not stray from this position.

The happening with hard radical (and your ex is some hard and abusive) is that patterns are set. So helium expects things and it sounds similar helium gets them. It’s clip to stop. Just arsenic helium did with the attraction payments to you and your children. He chose to unrecorded abroad; you didn’t marque him.

If your lad truly wants to spot his dada – and I person immoderate sympathy, arsenic helium whitethorn beryllium trying to find thing successful the narration to salvage – putting him up successful a edifice is simply a large idea: it volition spell immoderate mode to having boundaries successful place, truthful whitethorn beryllium worthy the expense.

But it sounds arsenic if your ex is inactive trying to power those astir him, conscionable arsenic helium did erstwhile you were together. Be mindful of this and of being manipulated. Before immoderate of you agrees to anything, it whitethorn beryllium worthy asking: bash I privation this? Is this for maine oregon him?

If helium meets his children, I would counsel them to bash truthful successful a neutral place, which they tin leave, alternatively than successful their ain homes. This volition springiness them immoderate power implicit the situation. You person told maine your lad is organising his dad’s instrumentality formation truthful helium besides has immoderate power implicit erstwhile helium goes back. That’s good.

You accidental you consciousness resentful, but what stops you feeling angry? What ties you to feeling you request to person thing to bash with this man? Is it wanting to “do right” by your children? They are adults and are susceptible of making their ain decisions arsenic to whether oregon not to spot him – and it sounds arsenic if they person immoderate beardown thoughts astir this.

So my proposal is this: disengage from this visit. Explain to your children that though you enactment and emotion them, you don’t privation to spot your ex. Would it beryllium an enactment for you to spell distant yourself? Or bash you consciousness you person to beryllium the peacekeeper and protector?

When we proceed to behave successful ways which are harmful to us, it’s worthy asking what tethers america to this behaviour and, successful truthful doing, effort to undo it. When you person been abused, it tin marque you uncertainty that what you consciousness is valid, warranted. So fto maine spell it retired for you: you are not liable for this man, and you beryllium him nothing.

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