u/Ok-Preference3577

My husband normally goes all out for his birthday. Month-long celebration, ridiculous plans, the whole thing.

The last few years have been different. We've been in a long, exhausting custody battle, and it's taken a lot from him. He's tired. He's discouraged. And lately he's been saying it might not even be worth fighting for custody anymore.

I'm broke this year, so I can't give him the birthday he deserves. But I had an idea — I want to make him a piece of art out of messages from people who've never met him. Guys who get it.

So I'm asking you, dad to dad:

What would you tell a father who's exhausted from fighting for his kids and starting to lose hope?

One sentence. One word. Something you wish someone had told you during the hardest stretch of your own life. It doesn't have to be profound — it just has to be honest.

I'm collecting every response and turning it into artwork for his birthday. He's not on Reddit, so he'll never see this coming.

Help me remind this guy his story isn't over yet.

My husband normally goes all out for his birthday. We're talking month-long celebration, ridiculous plans, the whole thing.

The last few years have been different.

We've been dealing with a long, exhausting custody battle, and it's taken a lot from him. He's tired. He's discouraged. And lately, he's been feeling like maybe it's time to stop fighting.

I'm broke this year, so I can't give him the birthday I'd normally want to.

But I had an idea.

I want to make him a piece of art using messages from people who have never met him.

So I'm asking you:

What would you tell a dad who's exhausted from fighting for his kids and starting to lose hope?

It can be one sentence.

It can be one word.

It can be something you wish someone had told you when you were going through the hardest thing in your life.

It doesn't have to be profound. It just has to be honest.

I'm going to collect the responses and turn them into a piece of artwork for his birthday.

He doesn't use Reddit, so he'll never see this coming.

Help me remind this guy that his story isn't over yet.

If my title doesn’t make sense, neither do my feelings so I’m on track for something here.

I’m 41F married to 42M and we just found out that my oldest 17M (from a previous relationship) has likely fathered a baby who is already a couple months old. not only has he reacted harshly, but he’s downright disrespectful about it. He says he doesn’t care about the baby, the girl or any of it. He just wants to pretend it never happened.

I have a strong understanding from the perspective of an abandoned child and then as a single mom raising a fatherless child but I’d like to understand the other side. Maybe for my own healing, maybe for understanding, maybe to help my son & grandson if I can. I’m so heartbroken by my sons response.

My question… For the men over 40 who ran or abandoned their kid as a teen (not looking to judge or anything like that) how has this positively or negatively affected your life from that point? Would you do anything different?

Am I the only one that gets totally lost?