DEAR CHRISTINE, I left my adopted mother’s home to go and live with my boyfriend who turned out to be very cruel, especially after he drank alcoholic beverages. Quite a few times I’ve had to go back to Ma’s house because of him. The next day he’d come and beg me to return.
Once he broke my arm with a blow from a chair. That time he was really sorry and stayed sober for a few weeks.
My problem is that I am going to have a baby in March but this does not stop him from pushing me around.
Now I am very worried he’ll never stop his drinking. What’s more, I don’t care for him the way I used to, but he says a child is better off with a mother and father and he won’t hit me anymore.
Ma has told me to come home for these last few months. Please tell me what you think is best.
– Y
Dear Y,
What you fear has already started. Your boyfriend has shown violence towards your baby in that he has not stopped striking its mother. I believe you can bring up your baby well without the kind of father I suspect he’ll be.
Since you have a home to go to, neither you nor your child should be made to put up with a man who seems not to have any control over himself.
I think you should accept Ma’s offer, at least until the baby is born, and for as long as it would take for him to prove that he can overcome his drinking problem.
– CHRISTINE
