School dynamics. What did you do for court?
I’m in a difficult coparenting situation and it feels like every single thing turns into conflict, power struggles, or involvement that feels more focused on appearances for court than actual collaboration. School, illnesses, Facebook posts, exchanges, activities, all of it. I feel emotionally exhausted all the time.
Recently there have been school events that I had already clearly said I did not want my boys participating in. Instead of discussing it with me directly, supplies were still donated, staff were involved, and I expressed that I did not plan on participating during my parenting time. Then when I maintained my boundary, I started getting sent old photos from last year of how “happy” they were there along with messages about how involved he is and how I’m “not coparenting.”
At the same time, I found out my children had been publicly posted on Facebook by the school and I had no idea. I do not want my children publicly posted online. When I brought that up, instead of addressing my concern directly, it turned into comparisons, defensiveness, and explanations for why the posting was acceptable.
There’s also a lot of underlying tension involving his girlfriend and her family dynamics and school district being pushed into our kids’ lives, which has made school issues even more emotionally charged. It constantly feels like situations are being created first and then I’m left looking unreasonable if I say no afterward.
And the hardest part is that none of these things are isolated anymore. It’s the cumulative pattern of feeling undermined, emotionally baited, ignored, and then viewed as “difficult” for reacting to it. It is happening consistently, even over very minor events.
I’m trying really hard to stop engaging emotionally and move toward short, calm, child-focused communication because this dynamic is draining me mentally. I genuinely want outside perspective because I can’t even tell anymore what’s reasonable and what’s me being emotionally overloaded from the constant conflict. How did you handle this in court?