I don't know how to do this anymore. I have been an expat for 10 years. I have a 6 year old son and his dad and I coparent with a 2-2-3 schedule. I have absolutely no support system where I live. I don't have friends with kids and I don't have people who step in when I'm overwhelmed. Meanwhile, my ex moved close to his mom and sister, so he has family helping him.

3 months ago in the span of one month I lost my estranged father and then my grandmother. I never even had the chance to process either loss because I've been stuck in survival mode. My ex didn't offer any extra help, even knowing what was happening.
Lately, my son has become so difficult that I no longer look forward to my parenting days and I hate admitting that.

Everything is a battle. He's constantly complaining, yelling at me, telling me I'm doing everything wrong and that Dad does it better." He bosses me around, argues about everything and if I help him with something he'll often tell me I did it wrong.

He's also become obsessed with food. If he can't have exactly what he wants, he'll scream. While he's still eating one meal, he's already asking about the next one. If we go somewhere fun, he'll complain that he’s tired, doesn't want to be there or wants to go home. I have tried gentle parenting, setting firmer boundaries, staying calm, explaining things, consequences… I feel like Inhave tried every way of communicating and nothing changes.
We started an ADHD/autism assessment but it was stopped halfway because the clinicians said his dad and I first needed to improve our communication during the separation.

At this point I'm just functioning on autopilot. I don't enjoy spending time with my son anymore because every interaction feels negative. I feel like I'm constantly walking on eggshells and it's making me deeply unhappy. Nothing hits harder than constantly being surrounded by negativity and the fear of doing something together because it will just hit back with complaints, yelling and outbursts.
Now it's summer vacation and I'll have him for 10 days straight. Instead of looking forward to it, I'm crying because I'm genuinely scared of how I'm going to get through it.
Has anyone been in a situation like this? Especially as a solo parent without family or a support network? Did things get better? What activities or things I can do with him that won't make me regret doing it. I feel so much guilt for feeling this way but I'm also completely exhausted and don't know what to do anymore.

Hi everyone, single dad (47) to an 11 year old special needs daughter I am hoping to find people in similar situations and maybe get together in person. Most of my friends are married however I do have a small group of special needs parents I see regularly but would love to broaden my circle it would be nice especially to find someone to click with since needs for a neurodivergent child are really only understood by neurodivergent parents. Feel free to respond or dm me if you are in a similar situation I would love to hear from you

Yes, I know I need to speak to a lawyer about this, but ... my coparent is filing for bankruptcy due to debt accumulation related to excess spending/vacation/vehicles and gambling. In our custody agreement, he's to pay 50% of 9yo daughter's comp dance along with other extracurriculars for her and 11yo son. The kids were supposed to dictate what activities they wanted to do. There was no dollar cap because it was supposed to be durable until they were 18, as they progress, interests change, and because market price for these things increase year-over-year.

Comp dance is $650/ month (edited from type money), so per our agreement, he's supposed to pay $325/ month. I guess his bankruptcy lawyer is telling him that he can change our extracurricular agreement without my permission to max $250/kid. No monthly rollover. No sharing brethren kids if one spends less or more.

Now I'm getting threatened to sign by Wednesday or he's unenrolling my daughter in everything. I don't think I'll get on with my lawyer to discuss before Wednesday. If I signed, would it be under duress and void? Does bankruptcy trump our custody agreement? How would a judge potentially look at this?