We've heard some fucked-up rationales for infidelity, but this one, via Babble, takes the cake.
Here's the deal: this woman - a friend-of-a-friend of the author's - is unhappy in her marriage. But because she's got kids, and kids "need a father," she's lining up a new one before the divorce. Says Babble's Jeanne Sager,
But what does this teach your kids? That it's OK to lie? That your daughters need to have a man around at all times. . . and at all costs? The idea that a woman needs to have a man is as outdated as that old quote about fish and bicycles. So too is the idea that a single parent can't provide for a child what a couple can - or that, say, two lesbians can't provide for a child what a heterosexual couple can.
Also...their father's still going to exist, right? I mean, does he need a "replacement?" And won't having a brand-new daddy be kind of...jarring? Sager adds that kids won't learn anything about the realities of divorce this way: that sometimes things don't work out and life goes on. Obviously, this plan is, to say the least, flawed, and it doesn't exactly need us pointing that out. If this is for real, the kids are going to have bigger issues than understanding what constitutes a typical divorce. "I cheated on your father for you" will make for a hefty therapist's bill, to say the least. So: we are going to go on the assumption that this is an isolated situation and not a standard rationale for unhappy people who are afraid of being alone. Because otherwise it's going to be really hard to get through the week.
Would you Cheat FOR the Kids? [Babble]


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