‘Dad’s New Girlfriend Said I Smell as Bad as You, Mom’ – My 7-Year-Old Told Me After a Weekend at My Ex-Husband’s
“Dad’s girlfriend says I smell as bad as you, Mom.”
My seven-year-old son, Mason, told me that after coming home from his father’s house. Then he revealed something worse: he and his older brother had to change clothes in the garage before entering. Sierra said their clothes smelled like my house.
My ex-husband, Ryan, called it a laundry issue. Sierra said certain detergents gave her headaches. But when I spoke to my older son, Eli, I learned she also sprayed the couch after the boys sat on it and joked about getting “the other house” off the furniture. Sometimes Ryan laughed along.
At our next family dinner, I placed two labeled laundry baskets by the door to show them what the boys had been facing. Sierra called it childish. I agreed—and asked her to imagine how it felt for a seven-year-old.
Then Eli spoke up. He hated the garage rule and the jokes, and he told his father so. Ryan finally listened.
The following weekend, the boys used the front door and changed upstairs. Sierra apologized to Mason for making him think he smelled bad. That was all I wanted: for my children to feel welcome in both of their homes.
