From where I sit (other than the kitchen table) I see the situation from a very different view.
I am the CP of 4 children who range from ages 9 to 14 and I have had the children 100% of the time.
I am single with just my income to raise them while he and his CL both have full time jobs bringing in two incomes, and over the last 41 months that my ex & I have separated I have had:
- My van repossessed for non-payment forcing me to find an old rusty chugging vehicle to get to & from work etc with
- Took a drop of $4.25 per hour in pay just to even have a job
- Working a second job during the warmer months delivering more than 300 newspapers to bring in what I can to help pay the bills and feed the kids
- Did everything I could to heal the hurt my children felt as their father continued to move further away from the children (incidentally he is trying to claim the whole access cost issue when the kids & I have not moved the entire time, yet he keeps moving away - and not for job reasons either)
- Dealt with everything regarding medical and education without his input, as he refuses to partake in these things
- Dealt with finding things to take the kids minds off the fact that prior to my requesting that the court detail access to him in hopes that he would follow a court order, he made contact with them 6 times in 18 months
- LIE to my kids on his behalf telling them that he cannot visit them more than 2 days a month because he is working
- Heal their hurts while he increases the number of children he has by 2 more - one born Oct 2006 and another May 2008
Try buying anything for your kids when you have seen the total sum of $2700 since Aug 2005, the bulk of that only now appearing because FRO is on his case as much as possible. Not to mention the time I have to lose from work to fight him in court as he and his lawyer use every tactic to stall and break all the 'rules' in court in regards to filing and/or serving anything - waiting until the day of court which has passed the timeline laid out in everything I have read for filing and serving. In November 2005 he was able to purchase a 2005 Ford Explorer and in 2007 he traded that in to get a 2007 sports model vehicle.
Not every CP is a greedy money-hungry heartless witch. My children have a human right to be provided for by both parents. We both agreed to having them to begin with, and being separated with his moving out doesn't relieve him of his duty to his children.
Trust me, I get the anger, the frustration, the stress, but remember when you are venting there are CPs on this forum who only want what is right for their children and are fighting for that when you comment and generalize CPs, NCPs, Exes, new spouses etc etc.