Child custody can be complicated, especially if parents sometimes have to travel for work.

It’s possible that it may not work well for one parent to watch the kids at the usual time.

If your ex asked you to watch your kids while they were out of town for work, would you do it?

The man in today’s story refused, and now he’s suffering the consequences, but the kids’ mom feels justified in her actions.

Let’s read all the details.

AITA for keeping the kids from their dad?

My ex and I have 2 kids (4f 6m). I have primary custody and my ex has them on weekends.

I had to attend a conference 6 hours away from my house from Wednesday-Monday.

I asked my ex if he could keep the kids and he was only willing to do it if I gave half the child support back for the month.

I said no and he told me to figure something out with the kids.

She definitely figured something out!

My good friend and our former nanny lives almost exactly halfway to the conference.

She’s had the kids overnight plenty of times, her kids get along great with my kids, and her husband is great with the kids so it worked out great.

They also have a pool with a water slide and a trampoline so my kids had the time of their lives.

Her ex wasn’t expecting the kids to be so far away.

Yesterday my ex texted me to ask who has the kids so he could pick them up.

I told him they were with my friend and I’d be happy to set up a meeting place and time whenever he was able to pick them up.

He asked why I had them so far.

And I told him he refused to take them and he told me to figure it out and I don’t have many friends or any family in the area so I figured it out.

She was not about to compromise with him.

He tried to tell me I need to have my friend meet him halfway because it’s ridiculous for him to drive almost 3 hours to see his kids.

I told him to figure it out.

And he blocked me in retaliation.

He has twisted the story to his kids.

He has FaceTimed the kids though and told them he will not be seeing them this weekend because I won’t let him pick them up.

I was in the room and told him the reason he isn’t seeing them is because he refuses to drive 3 hours to pick them up for the weekend.

Now I’m getting texts from his mother and brother calling me a horrible mom for keeping the kids away from their dad and making him look bad to the kids.

My friend and her husband say I didn’t do anything wrong but I’m wondering if I’m the jerk for taking them here and calling him out in front of the kids

He could’ve had the kids days longer than usual but refused.

She “figured it out” in a way that worked for her and the kids, so he needs to realize that these are the consequences of his actions.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

She could’ve phrased it differently.

He brought this on himself.

It sounds like this person has a great dad!

Here’s a suggestion to “document everything.”

Her ex’s child custody request was ridiculous.

Maybe next time he’ll help out instead of telling her to figure it out.

What an absolute piece of work.

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.