Getting into a new relationship after failing the previous one presents its challenges. For example, if you had kids with your previous partner, introducing them to your new one can be difficult. Also, it can be difficult to ease that new partner into having your children in their lives. And sometimes it doesn't work that well. Like in today's story, where this man's girlfriend got jealous over him posting a photo with his daughter. And, well, that really put their relationship to the test.
More info: Reddit
How should you react when your partner is jealous of your relationship with your child?
Image credits: Ron Lach (not the actual photo)
The man posted a cute photo with his daughter and shared some nice words, but his girlfriend interprets it as him saying she's unimportant
Image credits: Nathan Dumlao (not the actual photo)
Image credits: cottonbro studio (not the actual photo)
Image credits: flick-dickle
The man got angry and told his girlfriend that she shouldn’t compete with his daughter, which resulted in the woman giving him the silent treatment
The story started when the OP posted a picture with his 4-year-old daughter on his Facebook account. It was a cute photo, and he wrote next to it: “It doesn't get much better than this.” The context behind this is that they got out of a 2-year-long custody battle, and every minute spent together is precious.
But the post's author's girlfriend of 4 months didn’t take it as a precious moment. She texted him, saying that his Facebook post implied that she and her son were unimportant to him. This angered the OP.
He answered that she was completely wrong with her conclusion and that being attacked for posting about his daughter was unacceptable. Especially when the girlfriend has posts saying her son is her world. Applying her logic, the OP could say that he and his daughter aren’t important to her. He added that her son being there would enhance his time with his daughter, but at the same time, not being there does not minimize the sentiment -- his daughter is the light of his life.
After the conversation, the girlfriend stopped talking to the OP. And that prompted him to come on Reddit to ask if he was wrong to get angry and say the things he did.
Image credits: Timothy Hales Bennett (not the actual photo)
And folks online assured him he wasn’t wrong. It was voiced that, in netizens’ opinion, the OP’s priorities were in the right place -- his daughter should be the most important thing to him. And to ruin it all for a woman that he’s been seeing for only four months isn’t worth it. In fact, her giving him the silent treatment might be a perfect first step in breaking off a relationship and dodging the bullet of a possibly toxic relationship.
Netizens aren’t the only people able to advise on such a situation. Since the OP isn’t the only person who finds themselves in a situation where their partner is jealous of their kid, there is some advice that you can find online.
Yet, this advice is partially similar to what netizens have said. For instance, one should make sure that anyone who can't accept that your child comes first shouldn't be in your life. After all, it’s not worth ruining your relationship with your kid for a person you’ve been dating for not that long, like for four months, as in the OP’s story.
On the other hand, in some cases, there’s no need to be so drastic. Maybe your partner just needs to adapt to having your child(ren) in their life. This can be solved by letting your partner and child spend more quality time together.
At the same time, the partner shouldn’t rush into taking on a parental role. After all, they’re not the child's parent, they’re just a person from their actual parent’s life. Maybe sometime in the future, if the relationship works out, the child will view them as a parent, but it shouldn’t be rushed.
Well, from what we've read, it seems that it might be beneficial for the OP to take netizens' advice. Getting jealous of your partner's 4-year-old doesn't seem to be a very valid reaction. At the same time, maybe there are some other aspects at play here that we aren't aware of and that would validate such a reaction.
Internet folks said that the silent treatment was the first sign to get out of the possibly toxic relationship
