A woman has been praised online for not wanting to be friends with her husband’s former partner.
In a viral post shared to U.K.-based discussion website Mumsnet, which can be seen here, user Pcktin explained that her husband has two children, now aged 9 and 11, with his ex-girlfriend as well as their own child together.
The Mumsnet user described her husband’s ex as “okay” and said that they had been civil to one another.
She then added the ex had asked to have her phone number and suggested that they should go out for a drink.
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The user said: “I don’t want to sound petty but my immediate response is no. Apparently, the telephone number thing was said with the excuse that I look after DSC (dear stepchildren) sometimes so she could be able to contact me. And the drink thing. Who knows the motivation.”
“Firstly, if there is a problem she can contact my husband who can contact me, and secondly DSC has a phone so not really any need for her to need my number imo [in my opinion]. I don’t want this being open to requests or questions etc.
“Anything I do to help my husband out with childcare (not that regular) is between me and him and I’ve no desire to be contactable by her when she maybe needs something. I’m not part of their co-parenting arrangements.
“But most importantly, I just have no desire to be friends with this woman. I don’t want to go for drinks or to discuss my life with her, the way things are now is fine with me.
“Everyone rubs along okay for the most part and, as I say, there have been times where I’ve found her behavior questionable and she just isn’t someone I want to be particularly friendly with.”
In response to a commenter who suggested the meeting could be to discuss something about her relationship, the Mumsner user said: If it is something like this I have even less desire to do it to be honest.
“I don’t want to be discussing things with her that my husband doesn’t know about. That makes things awkward for me and him and he’s obviously my priority out of the two.”
Since being shared on Wednesday, August 10, the post has attracted some 123 responses from Mumsnet users.
The overwhelming majority of those who commented backed the woman’s decision not to go for the drink and questioned why she would be invited.
One user said: “YANBU (you are not being unreasonable). Wanting a contact number for any who is looking after your DC is not unreasonable imo (in my opinion), but the request to meet for drinks is just weird. I wouldn’t trust her as far as I could throw her.”
Another added: “I would keep things as they are, you don’t want to get into discussions about why she and your DH (dear husband) split up, which is a possibility.”
A third posted: “I agree with you. If things are ticking along, there’s no need to have a relationship with her.
“The last thing you would want is for her to be involving you in childcare arrangements, calling you about any communication issues with your DH, getting involved in your home life etc.
“I would also be a bit [confused face emoji] as to what’s suddenly brought this on. I would keep her as you currently are.”
Newsweek wasn’t able to verify the details of the case.
According to the American Community Survey in 2019, there were 2,396,311 children in the U.S. who were registered as stepchildren.
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