I was curious if any of you guys experienced the same issue and how you’ve dealt with it:

My ex decided not to work so she has all the time in the world to network and be involved with the school. She’s therefore wormed her way into the parents’ network and co-opted all the class moms/contacts. I work and when I don’t have the kids half the time so it’s impossible to compete. It’d be weird, anyways, since it’s not like I’m going to socialize with other class moms and the dads are not very involved. (Pretty much everyone in the school has intact families.)

The issue is she’s usurped class parties—essentially, tapped her network to make class parties for the kids and deliberately excludes me. I told her this should be joint and I’d pay for my fair share of the parties but she’s refused. It’s not possible and would be counterproductive for me to host competing class parties for the kids.

Curious if others have experienced something similar; and if so, what have you done?

Of course I’m going to have my own parties with my family and friends, so I’m asking for opinions about the larger parties where all classmates are invited.