Hi - My name is Karen.  I'm a single Mom of an 8 year old.  I am hoping to touch base with some other single mom's that have gone through having their ex-husband start a new family.

My daughter lives with me and her Dad only sees her occassionally, but now that he's met someone (2.5 months ago) and she and her 3 year old daughter have moved in with him (4 weeks ago) he wants to have our daughter meet his girlfriend and new daughter. 

It's such a short time (2.5 months?) that I'm not sure how to proceed ... I know our daughter will be crushed that Dad has a new daughter living in his house.  Our daughter hasn't been invited to his house in almost a year.  He comes to my house to see our daughter, but not often, maybe twice a month?  He comes to watch her soccer games, but only sees her for 5 minutes before and 5 minutes after, never spending much time with her, but now that he's got a girlfriend and her daughter living with him, he wants to have our daughter meet and start visiting often and overnight, etc. 

I'd like to hear about other Mom's experiences and see how you handled similar situations.  What worked, what didn't?  What would you do the same or different if you could? 

Thanks so much for your help,

Karen

Hi Karen, I would say to ask your daughter how she feels about it and take things slow,,, maybe a visit for a couple hours, then when she feels ready, she can stay over.  Its all about how your daughter feels and what she is comfortable with, and she is at an age where she can let you know.  Dad needs to understand that she probably has anger and jealousy about the situation considering that he didnt make much effort to be involved in her life/bring her over for sleepovers prior to the new additions.  Tina