Being civil with an ex is one thing, but being expected to play happy family is another.

Her cruel ex continues to push for joint celebrations and friendly gatherings, yet still slips in cruel remarks, so one mother is faced with a difficult choice ahead.

Read on for the full story!

AITA for not hosting son’s birthday party with my ex?

Almost divorced, and I have a 3-year-old son with my ex.

He wants to have joint birthday parties and do things together as a family with his new girlfriend.

However, he was/is verbally and emotionally cruel. Although he is not as bad as he was 3 years ago, he has continued to put me down at least once a month if we have any conversations on the phone.

Her ex begins to try and make her believe she’d be a bad mother for refusing his demands.

He is telling me that hosting and doing things together for our son is putting our son first.

However, from my perspective, it’s not healthy to do things “as a family” with someone who calls me names or continues to be disrespectful.

I don’t want to create the illusion that everything is okay.

The co-parenting relationship is already fraught enough as it is.

My son told me previously that his dad said I was “stealing his money” (child support), which is why he and Dad will have to move.

I told my ex that he needs to demonstrate respectful behavior for a year before I consider joint family activity.

AITA for not hosting a joint birthday party?

There’s a difference between being cooperative and enabling a toxic pattern.

What did Reddit have to say?

Co-parenting shouldn’t mean having to tolerate disrespect.

Maybe this couple should stop spending so much time together if things clearly aren’t working.

This user thinks it’s time to only start communicating when absolutely necessary.

Her ex’s true intentions are abundantly clear to this commenter.

You can’t rewrite a toxic past with party decorations and forced smiles.

If you liked that post, check out this story about a guy who was forced to sleep on the couch at his wife’s family’s house, so he went to a hotel instead.