'My ex's girlfriend is trying to co-parent with me'

"She's taken over all communication and is super passive-aggressive and sickly sweet."

A mum has put her ex on blast after his new girlfriend’s attempts to hijack their co-parenting agreement.

She shares an eight-year-old son and six-year-old daughter with her former partner, and they’ve been separated for four years.

Over that time, she says his parenting efforts have been disappointing, to say the least. 

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"A group chat"

“He’s been flakey, sporadic and unpleasant the entire time and has a line of girlfriends he introduced to one of my children,” the mum explains in an advice needed group.

At one point, he even went five months without seeing them.

“He claimed he had a mental breakdown and messaged me apologising, asking to see the children. I agreed but put boundaries in place,” she said.

Now, he has a new girlfriend. 

“They have been together for around six months, so I told him he could start having the children overnight once a fortnight.” 

But not without some precautions.

“For all communication I basically put him in a group chat with my partner, his partner and his mum,” she said. 

“He has a history of being verbally abusive and just straight-up lying all the time about arrangements and interactions.” 

At first, things were going well, and the mother even admitted the new girlfriend seemed like a nice person.

But now, a new issue has surfaced, leading the mum to seek support from the online group.

“Recently when making plans, he will not communicate at all. She will only send any kind of messages or arrangements and it is super passive-aggressive and sickly sweet."

The original agreement was that all communication would happen in the group chat, primarily between the parents. But now, the girlfriend has taken over completely. 

“It is enraging me to my core,” the mum admitted.  

Image: iStock

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"Communicate directly with him"

Commenters were quick to offer their thoughts.

“Ohhh lord, what on earth made you think it was a good idea to have you, your partner, your ex and his new partner of a few months in a group chat? Communicate with him directly regarding the children from now on,” one commenter wrote. 

“How about you keep all communication via email? That way you will always have a record of what has been said,” another suggested. 

A third added: “There are dedicated apps that separated parents can use for messaging. Have a look into them.” 

Then, the mum made another shocking revelation. 

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“I found out that they’ve been living together for three months. She basically moved in instantly and that's why she's sending me messages about looking after my children,” she said. 

For many commenters, the dishonesty was a major red flag that made the situation far more serious.

“The fact they have lied already speaks volumes,” one person concluded.

Originally published as 'My ex's girlfriend is trying to co-parent with me'