Widower tells his 20 and 22-year-old kids that he doesn't care that his 28-year-old girlfriend is only with him for his money: 'They said it's weird that I'm with someone only 6 years older than my son.'

He did his kids wrong and his girlfriend wrong in one fell swoop.

It can be deeply painful when your family members don't support your romantic relationships. You want to make your parents and kids happy, and if they're unhappy with the person you're dating, it's a near-impossible situation to navigate. You either have to break up with someone you love to make other people happy, a decision that is sure to breed resentment between you and those you aspire to please. Or you have to deal with the uncomfortable feeling of your parents or kids resenting your partner, making every birthday party, family dinner, and holiday feel awkward and weird.

Sometimes kids dislike their parents' new partners for valid reasons. Maybe their dad's girlfriend is trying too hard to fulfill the role of "mom," and they find that off-putting. Maybe they just don't vibe with their mom's boyfriend's personality, and they don't want to hang out with him because of it. Oftentimes, when a parent is dating after a divorce or the loss of their spouse, their kids' issues with their new partners are based on visceral emotional reactions. Who wouldn't be uncomfortable if their dad started dating someone only a few years older than them? It's not evil to feel upset when your mom starts dating somebody seriously mere months after your dad passes. It's incredibly human to feel upset about these things.

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The dad in this story defended his relationship with his much younger girlfriend to his adult children. However, he did so by throwing his girlfriend under the bus and agreeing with his kid's claim that she's a gold digger, despite the lack of evidence that she's actually with him for his money.
Am I the bad guy for telling my kids I don't care that my girlfriend only likes me for my money?

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$Guilty_Jellyfish8165 Your kids came to you with their feelings, you got prickly and told them to talk to Dianna? WTF? It's not Dianna's job to defend or explain herself to your kids. Stop being so defensive. Reiterate to your kids you appreciate that they love you enough to bring up something that must have been hard for them to say out loud, also that you're a grown ass man, and Dianna makes you happy, after all she reads non smut books\* and doesn't have tattoos. Acknowledge their feelings and$

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