AITA

AITH for calling the police and CPS on my husband after he smacked our 7 year old hard across the face? Back ground info...Me (F41) and husband (M47) have been together 16 years and married for 14. We have 3 children together (3M 11,9,7). I also have another partner (M30). I've been in that relationship for over a year and a half. It was entered into with my husbands permission. We all three live in the same house with mine and husbands kids. All three of our boys are neurodivergent and we have dealt with some significant behavioral issues. Husband has some significant mental health issues and additional health issues that leave him frequent exhausted and having to nap frequently. He take daily meds for these issues but they are not perfect. Last year he had a significant breakdown. His meds at the time were giving him severe anxiety attacks and making him extremely nervous. One night after about 2 month of me and my partner being together he out of the blue demanded I end the relationship and I refused. He took off out of the house without his phone, watch and key fob tracker and left in his car. After about an hour I got a call from the police saying he showed up at the station and was currently being taken by ambulance to the hospital. He ended up being held in a 24 hour psych hold. This is all important info to the current situation. So almost a month ago when husband was home for the weekend I noticed he was a bit more agitated than usual and he was annoyed that our three boys were down in his room playing video games. They would fight from time to time and his was very quick to scream and yell at them but never asked them to get out. I told him he needed to calm down and just kick them out and go take a nap. Shortly after this I came downstairs to find him sitting in the middle of the living room floor rocking back and forth and playing video games on his phone. I went back upstairs and very soon the boys started fighting again. I made a statement to my partner that husband was about to go yell at them. I was starting to put my stuff down to go make the kids leave his room but things escalated very quickly. We didnt actually see this part but as best I can tell from what we heard and what we were told, My youngest immediately started screaming at husband said he hated him and ran up the stairs, husband ran after him, youngest threw stuff at him including a big thing of laundry detergent and then we all heard the slap. Youngest came running up to me crying and in that panicked way kids do and saying daddy hit him. When we looked at him he hs d a spot on his nose and under his eye that were red and looked like they were swelling. My partner got up and went to get a ice pack and honestly I don't know if it was him or our oldest that brought me the ice pack but next thing I knew I was giving youngest the ice pack and partner was telling me husband had just ran out of the house. Partner got on the bed to help with youngest. I got up and went to find husband. I couldn't see husband outside and looked around. Hollered around but he never responded. I tried reaching from the walkie talkie feature on our watches but it didn't connect. I didn't have my phone on me. I went down to his room to check on our middle child that was crying and notice what I thought was husbands phone on the charger next to his bed as well as his keys. I assumed at this point that he had taken off into the woods behind our home which he has done before to calm down. After he didn't show back up after thirty minutes I started to get ready concerned. I been out yelling for him a few times at this point and he never answered or showed back up. I called his parents to see if he had gone there. Told them what happened and mother adviced me to go ahead and call the police. I was hoping that somehow this was all a misunderstanding and maybe a accident that he hit him that hard but this was looking more and more like it was just anger and he had taking off cause he had messed up but his mental health left me very concerned as to what he might do to himself so I did call the police. They showed up, looked around a bit, took a picture of youngest and asked a few questions before leaving. After 2 hours he still hadn't shown back up, his mom had called to check in but nothing. Around this time I went to go check on our middle child who was still upset and at this point I made note that husbands watch wasn't where he normally leaves it when he takes it off and this was the first time I actually considered trying to call him because his watch will accept calls if his phone isn't with him. He answer after the first ring. When I ask him where he is he informs me that he has been in the back of his car sleeping and playing video games on his main phone. The phone next to the bed on the charger is his old phone. I go outside and had to knock on the car door from him to come out. He is mad at me when I ask him when he slapped youngest so hard and he tells me. He had to, that that they don't listen to him and that youngest was yelling at him. I started to walk off and said I had to call the police back. He ask why the hell did I call him. I told him because I was worried about him, because he had hurt our child and was worried that he would hurt himself. He told me that was all in my head and that I'd made a mistake. Police showed up he refused to go to the hospital or his parents. After they left he yelled at me some more and the got back in his car. I called the crisis line cause I was now concerned for me, my kids and him. The crisis line immediately reported to CPS while I was on the phone and everyone at this point including the police had advised me to keep husband away from the kids and make him leave if possible. He wouldn't leave. Had to move kids around so he could have the lower part of the house to himself. He went in the house and didn't hear from him or see him till Tuesday. So AITA? There is a lot more to this story and I can provide updates.

Posted Oct 31, 2025, 12:45 PM UTC

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