I'm going to call bullshit now, Burnt.
This thread isn't even a month old and look at the drama.
Your daughter was traumatized and he did all of the things you said would prompt you to leave immediately ... and yet there you are.
Sorry - but you're not putting your daughter's needs and well-being first.
I know. Because I am guilty of the same damn thing. I stayed and stayed and stayed ... trying to make things work so my daughter would have a home with two parents.
Right now the most stable place for DD is still home, as we have been able to show each other love and respect since we talked.
Burnt, your home is anything but a stable environment.
You've posted more than once that your husband has made strides forward and things are looking up ... only to post a few hours later that he's said or done something else hurtful. Your posts have been all over the board. You're going to stay. You're going to leave. Stay. Leave. Stay. Leave. "Oh I don't know what to do."
He yells at you. He yells at you in front of her. He has, just since this thread started yelled at you in front of her and used her as a pawn in your twisted little games.
And that doesn't even touch the things you said to me about his behaviour in front of your daughter in a PM.
My God, woman, if 1/2 of what you say about his behaviour and your own is true your daughter is not in a stable environment.
And I'm sorry Burnt, but if you think that just because you're putting on a good front and things look smooth on the surface that your daughter isn't clued in to what is going on you're being hopelessly and dangerously naive.
We thought our daughter was FINE. A-okay. Because things looked good on the surface. They weren't. And our daughter knew it.
She is 14 and she was cutting her wrists, legs and abdomen with razor blades.
Read that again, Burnt.
My beautiful, intelligent, amazing baby was cutting herself with razor blades as a way to deal with the pain we were causing her in her "stable environment."
Here's the kicker. I thought it was just after the A. That my reaction to the A and the stress of trying to rebuild after the A was the cause.
Nope. Turns out my baby girl had been hurting herself for years. YEARS. She would hit herself, bang her head into things ... Some of the bruises on her legs that I thought were due to normal kid activities and being clumsy like me (I can trip over a shadow and I end up with bruises on my legs and say, "Oh. When the hell did that happen?") were because she was hurting herself to try to let some of the pain she was feeling out.
Pain that we were causing her in her 'stable' environment.
And nothing personal Burnt - but my ex-husband and I didn't have nearly the level of dysfunction you have described.
If you think your daughter isn't cluing in and being affected by this twisted melodrama you have going on you are dead wrong.
If you won't leave then at the very least get your daughter into a counselor. Let them evaluate how much damage you've inflicted on your innocent child. And then let them tell you how to fix it.
I pray to God, Burnt, that you never have try to comfort your child while cleaning and bandaging her self-inflicted wounds.
NOTHING on earth - not even the pain of being betrayed and cheated on - hurts as bad as knowing you fucked your kid up so badly that she resorts to cutting herself.
[This message edited by SouthernGal at 7:13 AM, October 13th (Wednesday)]