I've never understood why the end of a relationship - especially one involving children - has to immediately signal a descent into hatred and toxicity.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
Relationships can go wrong very simply, very quickly, and when you have children you become more aware of relationships around you.
The thing is, when you have a child with someone, like it or not, you're going to have to have a continuing relationship with them.
When you have children, your perspective on the parent-child relationship alters.
It's not that, you know, when a relationship doesn't work and there are issues, you have to somehow work it out if there are children involved.
At some level, every relationship is assaulted by an aroma of judgment - this sense that we will never measure up to the expectations and demands of another.
I'm something of a black belt at break-ups. I have had two long-term relationships in my life, both of 10 years, both resulting in children, and both very much over. Things end. It is how you manage them being over that's key.
I think what ruins relationships and causes most fights is insecurity.
If a relationship is founded on love it doesn't end.
When children arrive, or when some crisis occurs, couples don't have the resources to deal with it because they've been so busy getting on with their lives. They haven't learned how to sit down and discuss things.
I'm attracted to how fraught the parent-child relationship is, swerving so easily between love and hostility, with almost no plausible way to end, unless someone dies.