Co-parenting is never easy, especially when one parent seems to prioritize work over quality time with their child.

When his ex-wife requested him to sign her name on their son’s birthday card because she couldn’t make it in time, he realized that pretending everything was fine was a bridge too far.

You’ll want to read on for this tale of bad blood between two exes.

AITA for refusing to sign a card with my ex’s name because she can’t make it to the birthday party?

I (36M) am throwing a birthday party for my 7-year-old son, Noah.

My ex-wife, Sarah (34F), and I share custody, but we barely get along.

There’s still some hard feelings between them.

Our marriage ended badly two years ago when accused me of cheating on her.

I didn’t.

Also, it added insult to injury that she accused me of doing it with a 19 year old – an intern at work.

The divorce was messy.

Since they split up, Sarah’s had a lifestyle change which she’s quick to rally to her defense.

For most of our marriage, Sarah was a SAHM.

Now, she’s working full-time and seems to be always “too busy.”

She’s missed a lot of time with Noah over the past year, always blaming work for not being able to show up.

She even misses the most important of dates.

This year, she let me know she couldn’t make it to Noah’s birthday party because of a work trip.

Fine, life happens.

But what really ticked me off is that she had all the time in the world to either mail a card or drop off a gift for Noah—and just didn’t.

So he asks her ex to cover for her, but he’s not having it.

Today is the party and she texts me, asking if I can sign her name on the birthday card I’m giving Noah.

She wants me to cover for her lack of effort so it looks like she’s involved when she’s not.

He says she should work harder to get her priorities straight.

I told her no. I’m not comfortable lying to Noah.

I said she could’ve easily mailed something herself, or at least video called Noah on his birthday.

But she shifts the blame back to him.

Sarah got all mad, saying I’m making it harder for her to stay involved in Noah’s life, and it’s my fault she has to work.

I’m not going to pretend she’s some great, present mom when she couldn’t even be bothered to plan ahead.

It was big phone argument and she is calling me a jerk.

I need an outside opinion.

She wanted to pretend everything was fine, but he knew it wasn’t.

What did Reddit think?

This commenter believes her absence reveals everything about her priorities.

According to this redditor, taking 5 minutes to pick out and send a card isn’t really that hard.

The ex’s accusations don’t exactly hold up.

The time she spent antagonizing her ex could have been way better spent.

A little transparency might be the key to a healthier co-parenting relationship, but let’s be honest: This couple is far off from that.

For now, he decided to keep the birthday card honest, believing that the truth was the best gift he could give his son.

If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.