Dear Sky:

There are many social expectations tied to gender that are unfair and inaccurate, for example: men being expected to not feel hurt or anxious, to not be emotional (although a boy/man feels pain the same as a girl/woman).

There is this social expectation regarding gender: women are expected to parent children while men are expected to bring in the money. This is not a negative if it works well in a particular family. In  your case, your ex husband benefits from the two parts of this expectation: he gets lots of credit for doing more than the expected in parenting his child and he doesn’t bring in the money.

Life is often unfair. All we can do is see to it that we are being fair to ourselves and to others. Got to accept best we can what we cannot change. I suggest change what can be changed, keeping your child’s well-being and interest first in mind, and accept with as much peace of mind what you cannot change.

anita