M
mom-and-dad-in1
Guest
What is the name of your state? VA
I have never been married to my 8 year old son’s father. We have never lived together in our son’s lifetime. He is on the birth certificate. I even let our son have his father’s last name in hopes that it would encourage parental involvement on his part. This summer, I filed for custody, support, and visitation because I finally accepted that I am truly a single PARENT. He has no interest in helping make parental decisions, although he has no problem criticizing the decisions I make. He has no interest in parent-teacher conferences or school events… and went as far as stating recently (in front of our son) that there was no point in him knowing or son’s teacher’s name. In the past 3 years, my son has participated in 3 seasons of Little League Baseball, 2 seasons of Youth Soccer, 1 season of Youth Basketball, and 1 season of Ralleyball (Youth Tennis). I have only been able to get his father to attend 3 games total.
For the past four years, my son sees his father one afternoon a week on average, from about 6:30 ‘til 9. I never know for sure that he is coming until sometime after lunch that very day. Either way, I need to leave work at the usual time because he refuses to arrange to leave work 15 MINUTES early with his boss. (I could really use that time to work late sometimes to make up for times I need to leave early for doctor’s appointments, school events, practices, games, etc.) He is not interested in weekend visitation because, frankly (I can say this because my son is not listening) a kid cramps his weekend lifestyle.
QUESTION: Mediation is set in a couple weeks. How far can I go on the visitation issue? Can I make him adjust his work schedule to spend a full 3 hours with his son?
I have never been married to my 8 year old son’s father. We have never lived together in our son’s lifetime. He is on the birth certificate. I even let our son have his father’s last name in hopes that it would encourage parental involvement on his part. This summer, I filed for custody, support, and visitation because I finally accepted that I am truly a single PARENT. He has no interest in helping make parental decisions, although he has no problem criticizing the decisions I make. He has no interest in parent-teacher conferences or school events… and went as far as stating recently (in front of our son) that there was no point in him knowing or son’s teacher’s name. In the past 3 years, my son has participated in 3 seasons of Little League Baseball, 2 seasons of Youth Soccer, 1 season of Youth Basketball, and 1 season of Ralleyball (Youth Tennis). I have only been able to get his father to attend 3 games total.
For the past four years, my son sees his father one afternoon a week on average, from about 6:30 ‘til 9. I never know for sure that he is coming until sometime after lunch that very day. Either way, I need to leave work at the usual time because he refuses to arrange to leave work 15 MINUTES early with his boss. (I could really use that time to work late sometimes to make up for times I need to leave early for doctor’s appointments, school events, practices, games, etc.) He is not interested in weekend visitation because, frankly (I can say this because my son is not listening) a kid cramps his weekend lifestyle.
QUESTION: Mediation is set in a couple weeks. How far can I go on the visitation issue? Can I make him adjust his work schedule to spend a full 3 hours with his son?