Daisy and Kris were still very young when their mother left them for good. Being 9 and 5, the children couldn’t possibly understand why their mother wasn’t by their side any longer. As days passed by and they didn’t hear from her, the siblings got even more devastated by the though that their mom didn’t care enough to give them an explanation.
Their dad, Jim, was there for them and provided comfort.
All of a sudden, from being a careless girl, 9-year-old Daisy became like a mother to her little brother. Instead of playing with her friends, she made sure Kris was fed. She put him to sleep and cared for him together with her dad.
Not able to fill the void their mother’s absence left in their hearts, Jim asked Oprah Winfrey to help him with his children’s feeling.
Once on the show, a therapists worked with Daisy and Kris and asked from them to put their emotions on a piece of paper.
“Dear Mom, I miss you so much… I miss baking cookies as a family and you helping us do our homework. I still love you, Mom, but what you did in the past makes me not love you so much like I used to,” Daisy, who was 11 at the time the episode aired, wrote.
Her brother Kris wrote: “When I think of you and Daddy not living together, I feel so sad. I do not understand why you got divorced. Sometimes I dream about Dad being sad. About not having you around. I wish that you didn’t get a divorce.”
The children always dressed up for their sessions with the therapist, and Kris even bough a fake ring thinking she would appear one day.
Five years after appearing on Oprah, the production got in touch with Misty, the children’s mother. She was serving time in a nearby jail after failing to pay child support and producing fake financial documents.
When Oprah contacted her, Misty had a different story to tell. She claimed it was her ex-husband Jim who prevented her from seeing her kids. However, Daisy and Kris didn’t think that was the case.
As Kris didn’t want to meet Misty because he said it would be overwhelming for him, Daisy did agree to see her. Asked why she wanted to meet her mother after so much time and whether she was mad at her, the girl said: “I need to know why she did what she did and to get the apology because I deserve it.”
However, Daisy, who was 16 at the time, added that a single apology wouldn’t be enough. It would be a long road before she could forgive her mom for abandoning her. “I’m the only girl in this house. How am I supposed to live like this?”
Meeting her mom wasn’t easy because it reminded Daisy of all those years she spent without her. She recalled how embarrassing it felt when Jim had to teach her how to do the “girl stuff.” Daisy said to her mom: “All my memories of you are terrible!” The girl added that she was aware her mom cheated on her father.
Misty offered her apology and promised to never leave her children again if given the chance to be part of their lives again.
This story is just a reminder to never fight or say bad words in front of your children. What seems like a simple argument between grownups can affect the children’s feelings in ways that are hard to be fixed later on.
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Bored Daddy
