Reddit blasted a woman who left her husband and young children at home to go chase her artist dreams in New York City.
Sharing their situation on the popular forum, a man revealed his wife left him and their two young children, ages 1 and 2, behind to try to “make it” in the Big Apple.
“After a lot of discussion, we agreed upon her living there for a year, and she said she would plan on coming home once to visit during that time at Christmas,” he wrote in his post.
“This was a difficult decision for me since I work 60-70 hours a week and we have two young kids, but I don’t want her to have any regrets or end up resenting me, and luckily my parents have been willing to help out a lot,” he continued.
The man shared that his wife has been living in New York City for “about two weeks,” and has FaceTimed their children “about three times.”
“That’s great and all because I want her to see the kids, but after every call, our son has had a complete meltdown,” he explained, adding that their children’s mental health has become a concern, so he told his wife not to FaceTime them anymore.
“She was very upset, saying it’s not right for me to keep the kids from her, etc., I just have to learn how to deal with meltdowns and that eventually they will get used to seeing her on FaceTime. I think she’s being unfair to me,” he wrote.
In an update, the man added that this isn’t the first time his wife has left them for an extended period of time.
“I should also mention that early in our relationship and marriage, she did sacrifice a lot for my career, which is part of the reason I felt like I needed to ‘let her’ do this … My hope was that if she got this out of her system, she would come back, and we would be a happy family. I know that’s very naive, but that’s my hope,” he shared.
The man also explained that if he “were to threaten divorce, then she would leave anyway but not come back. I’m very much between a rock and a hard place.”
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In the comments section, Reddit users slammed the mom for basically abandoning her family, including her two young children, and warned the man that his marriage might be over.
“Your wife chose to ignore her responsibilities as a parent. These are the consequences. Your son’s needs trump hers,” one user commented.
“Even if she felt she had to do this, why couldn’t she wait another couple of years? It’s not like being in the military and being forced to leave. This was her choice. Now she has to respect that her choices made things so much harder on everyone else, and there are consequences. It’s really selfish all around,” someone else wrote.
“Damn. Your wife sucks. She abandoned her two toddlers for something she should have done before having kids … Working 70 hrs and dealing with 1-hour meltdowns by yourself is not something I would do. Protect the little peace you have. What’s gonna happen if your wife ‘makes it out there?’ She’s not coming back, is she?” another chimed in.
“I think your marriage is over. Absurd that your wife decided to just ditch all of you to go ‘live her dream’ while your children are this little. This must be so traumatic for your son who’s used to his mommy and misses her. What your wife is doing to a callous and selfish,” someone else slammed.
Meanwhile, another user argued that “both are unfit parents.”
“BOTH of them deserve massive criticism … her for actually doing it, and him for agreeing to it. Yet we have commentators defending HIM … completely blind to the suffering HE’S also enabling of his children. Both of them are being massively selfish in favor of what suits adults,” they commented.