I’ll tell you what kind of impact my ex introducing his new partner after six weeks (and 4 months after we split) and insisting our son slept at hers from then on, had on my son.
He went from coping with our split to being horrendously confused as to where he was, where he was supposed to sleep, being shut in a unfamiliar room in an unfamiliar house, from bed sharing with his dad to his dad refusing to comfort him, to having to compete with two older children he didn’t know, to being confused as to whether he should like his ‘new stepmum’ and what that meant in regards to how he felt towards me, to hating going to his dads.
His anxiety levels shot up, he acted out constantly around me because he was afraid I was going to do the same thing, he kept saying he wanted me and daddy to get back together, he said he loved his new stepmum as much as me because she bought him toys I wouldn’t (ugh) and then when his dad started telling him he could live with them in this new blended family he was even more confused as dad never took part in family life before.
It took nearly a year of constant reinforcement to our son and being the bigger person (whilst my ex abused me over email, the new partner trolled me online and they both made my life a misery) before my son overcame the changes.
When I met my now partner I waited 6 months before I introduced him. I needed to be 100% sure I was sure about the relationship and that my son would cope with the change. Thankfully he did, and he adores my partner. We’ve been together for over a year and no rushed engagement and cringe posting needed!
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What I meant to say was that Anna may well have disengaged from her marriage, but I can bet you the kids didn’t. To split is one thing, to divorce is another, but to introduce and blend families within a fucking year borders on insanity and is in no way beneficial for the children. They need time to process the divorce, to find their place, to grief for the family unit, to feel comfortable in their own home after so many changes. To uproot them and insist they share with another family 50% of the time just because you’ve fallen in love in record quick time is shockingly bad parenting.