A Dad Left His Ex Out of Their Daughter's First Period Conversations & Reddit Is Torn

Parenting preteens is hard enough without the added layer of a contentious divorce. Just ask this dad, who was chewed out by his ex-wife after not contacting her when their daughter got her first period.

Reddit user @No-Tap8247 took the infamous /AmITheAsshole Subreddit for some unbiased insight into the whole debacle. For context, he and his ex-wife split after a situation that left him grappling with a lot of “bitterness and recrimination.” When they divorced, he was awarded primary custody of their daughter and son since he works from home and has the most availability in his schedule to parent them.

His daughter, who is 10 years old, recently got her first period while she was staying with him.

“I grew up with sisters and I am not a complete idiot, so I had read up on what to do,” he wrote. “I had also talked to my mom and sisters about it. I had been prepared since she was 8. I gave her the boxes of pads and tampons. I explained to her that it was normal and healthy. I watched a video with her that was a tutorial on what to do. I also asked her if she would like to talk to either my sister or the woman I’m seeing about how to do everything right.”

It all sounds pretty thoughtful and respectful, if you ask me. And as @No-Tap8247 clarified in an addendum to his original post, he does not “in any way, shape, or form” limit contact between his ex and their kids. So, he didn’t tell his daughter that she couldn’t ask her mom for help; he just didn’t suggest it explicitly.

After their initial talk, his daughter was understanding and asked to speak with @No-Tap8247’s sister to answer some lingering questions. “[My sister] said that I had gotten the basics correct, and there were only a couple of things she needed to explain or correct,” he wrote.

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