So I feel like I’m in a competition with somebody that I’m not competing against.

I’m not insecure at all about my relationship with my children.

We do things together and we love each other. No problem.

But it seems like every time I do something with my kids that the stbxw immediately desperately tries to one up that thing.

I’m not angry about it, but it’s just insanely bizarre to me.

For example, if I take the kids to a campground, she will end up taking them out of town to an indoor waterpark.

If I take my kid to the Japanese restaurant to sit down to eat one of his favorite foods (because he asked me) when we are crunched for time ,she will take him a couple days later to the same restaurant, but have the full hibachi experience.

At the end of the day, I think it’s cool for my kids that they get to do all the stuff but it’s just incredibly bizarre to me how insecure she is.

Has anyone experienced anything like this?

To me, I just do things with my kids because we like to have fun. But it seems like she sees her doing things with them as a reflection on her.

Her father is a textbook narcissist and I know she got a lot of his personality traits, so I guess it kind of makes sense.

But it still can be very disconcerting and irritating at times.

Do you think the kids are aware of her desperation?

The kid I took to get Japanese food the other day is a teenager . I can’t imagine that he can’t see what’s going on here.

My mother told me I just need to get a sense of humor about it.