Dad remarries to give his 3 and 7-year-old kids a mom again, years later son admits he thinks it was a mistake, dad takes offense: ‘You never really loved her’

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Jul 14, 2025 5:00 PM EDT

It must be extremely scary to suddenly find yourself a single parent to two tiny children, having to face a future in which you raise them on your own, with no one at your side. 

Unless you signed up to become a single parent, we imagine most people dread a reality in which they have to do it alone. They would do pretty much anything to avoid this situation: move in with their parents so they could help, hire a full-time nanny, and yes, even date other people in an attempt to find someone else who might want to share the burden of parenting with you. 

Should a parent really bring someone into their family just because they don't want to be alone?

Well, if you ask the dad in the story below, he would say absolutely yes, since the only reason he married his second wife was so that he could give his kids a mother figure. Yet, if you ask the kids themselves, they would say that their dad was more than enough to them, and they think that marrying someone for any reason other than love is not the best idea.

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  • What do you think? Scroll down to read the full story and let us know what you would say to the dad in the comments below!

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    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    AITA for telling my dad he did make a mistake when he remarried to give me and my sister a mom again?

    This was a very unexpected talk with my dad that turned into a fight and I'm (28M) here to ask if I'm TA. Basically my dad told me he had
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    my dad told me he had spoken to the wife of one of his closest friends and she had told him he married for all the wrong reasons the second time and it was a big
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    mistake on his part. He didn't agree with her and argued with her on the the reasons he married a second time.
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    Then he went to talk to my sister (24F) who didn't engage but I did. For context, our mom did when we were 3 and 7. A year
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    later dad was dating again and after 7 months of dating he married his second wife. His intent was to give us another mom because he felt
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    like we needed one and he also felt like he couldn't do it alone. They divorced 9 years ago but they share custody of their two children so she's
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    not out of his life. Although they are high conflict. When my dad came to me he told me about his discussion with his friend's wife and how
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    he couldn't get an answer out of my sister. He told me to tell him the wife of his friend had been wrong and he did the right thing, that his
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    decision gave me and my sister a mom again. Instead of that I told him the truth which is that it was a mistake because she was never our
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    mom and we never needed him to be with someone else for that, that he had been enough for us. He asked me what two young kids would do without a mom
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    and I told him we had a dad. He was still involved in our day to day lives and care so what did he need her for if he didn't marry her for love? He
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    said he thought we'd loved her and that we'd thrived with a mother's love. Then he brought up his ex's anger at him in the latter years and her comments that the three
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    of us never gave a sh about her. He asked me if that's what she meant and I said probably.
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    He was saying that wasn't his fault and he didn't understand me and the friends wife saying marrying was a mistake. I said he never really loved her and he only
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    married her to give us a mom and that we never accepted her as our new mom. I pointed out how his ex likely felt that and over time grew
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    more discouraged because it wasn't just me but my sister too. And he was never very affectionate with her either.
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    The image does not depict the actual subjects of the story. Subjects are models.

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    Then it turned into a fight with dad saying I disrespected his choices by calling them mistakes and that I disrespected him by not trusting the new mother he
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    had chosen for us. It annoyed me and I told him that. I mentioned how we had a mom and it didn't look too good in my eyes to act like
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    she could be so easily replaced. And that's when we just straight argued about what I said and about his decision
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    and he's mad that I said it was a mistake. Maybe that's me putting too many words in his mouth. But it did fail because his ex is not
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    someone I ever regarded as a mother and I have not seen or spoken to her in a decade. AITA?
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  • 24
    TarzanKitty NTA If he married to "give you a mom." Shouldn't you and your sibling had gotten to choose the mom?
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    door-stool Your father knows deep down that his 2nd marriage was a mistake. Your honesty is the best policy. Honest answers to
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    honest questions. Actually your father should be proud that you/your sister that he was enough parent, that a substitute mom was unnecessary.
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    Savings Telephone_96 Your dad asked for an answer and didn't like the one you gave him. NTA.
    via Savings_Telephone_96

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