Co-parenting with an ex can be difficult, but if you always put your kids first it can work out well in most cases.

What would you do if your ex started expecting you to also buy gifts and pay for things for her new children with her new husband?

That is what the dad in this story is facing, and he refuses to pay for kids who aren’t his.

Check it out.

AITA for paying for my kids class trip when their stepsister and stepcousin can’t go?

My ex and I (both 30) separated after the birth of our twins 8 years ago.

We had only dated for 14 months when she got pregnant and we only stayed together during the pregnancy because we wanted to try and be a family for our kids sake.

So, she cheated.

But she met someone else and fell for him and wanted to “have a chance at love”.

Our separation was amicable enough.

We co-parented well for the first two years.

But when she met her husband (not the guy she fell in love with during our relationship) things changed.

He was a single father and sole provider for his daughter, who was the same age as our kids.

She declared I would be responsible for including her like she was my child too if I was buying gifts or doing anything fun with our kids.

This started us on a bad path and now we parallel parent instead of co-parent, because I was expected to babysit her stepkid (and nephew and now younger daughter) when I wanted to have fun with my kids.

I was also supposed to spend equally across all kids for gifts.

Ex and I have 50/50 custody.

Nobody pays child support because we both have our kids an equal amount of time.

He sounds like a great dad.

My kids and I are close.

I do not include the other children at their mom’s house when I have them and I do not interact with those other children.

Three years ago their stepdad’s nephew moved in with them and a year later their mom and stepdad had a baby daughter together.

So they have a stepsister, stepcousin and a half sister at that house and my ex is expecting again (potentially).

This is partially where the fight comes from.

The school the kids go to is small so they’re in the same class as the steps.

And they have a class trip coming up in November to an interactive museum.

As any good father would.

It’s expensive for a class trip at their age but I can afford it and the kids want to go so I paid.

But my ex was mad.

She and her husband can’t afford to send the stepdaughter and nephew and my ex told me I should either pay for all four to go or all four could miss it.

Of course, who would say yes to something like that?

I said no.

I told her I have the right to pay for them to go and the trip falls during my parenting time so I can send them.

No, he is taking care of his family.

Her husband told me I was sabotaging their family and being a jerk to kids who get to see their family go on the class trip they can’t be a part of.

He told me I should care more about all the kids.

My ex backed him (of course) and said the kids hating each other will be all on me.

AITA?

He is absolutely not responsible for paying for kids who are not his to go on the trip, what are they thinking?

Take a look at what the people in the comments had to say.

The ex and new husband are causing the problems.

Yes, the ex needs to support her new family.

It really doesn’t make sense.

This person says the new husband needs to step up.

This commenter thinks it is ridiculous.

Mom and stepdad are delusional.

Looney tunes.

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.