6 year old daughter misbehaving after starting contact with her father again (after over 2 years)
by Liz
(Derby, UK)
Hi all. My 6 1/2 year old daughter (& 3 year old son) have just started to see their father again after over 2 years of virtually no contact since we seperated. Since my ex and I broke up I have been living with another man (to whom I have now been married to for over a year); he has always been wonderful with the children and they absolutely adore him. As the little one was only tiny when he moved in he has grown up calling him Daddy, and about a year ago my daughter made the decision to call him this too. We have never made any attempt to stop contact with their dad, he has just dropped off the map since the seperation and never expressed any interest in the children, but even though my daughter had quite a good relationship with her had she has never really asked where he is either (after the initial weeks of the seperation at least). A few months ago we found out he had appraoched the courts with the intention of getting a contact order; this has been issued and the children starting seeing him last week at a contact centre. However, since then my normally confident, outgoing little girl has retreated into a snappy, emotional nightmare...she hasn't slept through the night since she saw him and has had nightmares and screaming fits most nights. We understand that it's a time of change for her and difficult and we are trying to support her, but I'm at my wits end already...the law has ordered that a man who walked out on his children without a backward glance now has the right to a relationship with them, but it's already causing her distress. My main fear is that when the contact eventually progresses to the kids going to his house and then staying over, they're going to be more disrupted than ever....I don't knbow what to do. x
