You say it was a fallout over 'nothing', but sometimes things that seem very trivial to others can be extremely hurtful and seem very important to others. Your friends partner may have been very deeply distressed by what happened.
Having said that, using the child as a weapon is NOT the answer. The child has done nothing wrong, and is suffering the loss of the grandparents through no fault of it's own. I can understand your friends anger over this, but leaving really should be the last resort. Not only will that make fighting his corner far more difficult, but ALL of the children will suffer the loss of their Dad.
My suggestion would be to try to work things out calmly with his partner. To sit down and talk about why she was so upset, why she is denying the child it's grandparents, and what she thinks needs to be done to make things right again. You said everything was perfect before this upset, so surely perfection is worth fighting for?
I'm still so angry about this that I'm having to try really hard to post calmly.
We have, over recent months, had several Eastern Europeans come to work in the factory. 3 of these are Polish lads, only one of whom speaks English well. Because he has been employed longer than the others he has been put in charge of training them, even though he is fairly new himself and not anywhere near experienced enough. And this is where the problem starts. My job involves taking the basic unit they turn out and transforming it into the finished product. Unfortunately, I have had to reject a fair bit of their work recently because it just isn't up to standard.
Today I rejected a whole batch. The measurements were wrong, each unit was different to the others even though they are supposed to be the same...they were just crap. I called the foreman over to tell him they would have to be re-done. The following is the exact conversation I had with the foreman.
Me....Steve, these are no good, they'll have to be done again.
Steve...What's wrong with them?
Me...The partitions are on the piss, some are too wide.
Steve...Can't you work round the problem.
Me....No. The measurements are precise, the kits won't fit.
Steve...They don't look too bad to me.
Me...They're crap. I'm not prepared to work round the balls up and send them out with my name on them when I know they aren't right. They're shoddy and badly made.
Steve...According to you everything those lads do is shoddy and badly made. I think you just have a problem with the Polish.
I was absolutely gob-smacked at what he'd said. I replied, 'Steve, I don't care if they come from Poland, Venus, Mars or Ur-fucking-anus.....their work is crap and I will not accept it.'
At which he scuttled off and hid in the office for the rest of the afternoon.
My dilemma is, what do I do now? I think his accusation was totally unfair and certainly not true. It may even have been defamatory. Do I make a formal complaint about it, or just let the matter drop and see what happens?
A very wise man (allegedly) once said
'Let he who is without sin cast the first stone'
Nuff said.
I've thought really long and hard before replying to this.
Pete and I are a fairly strange 'swinging' couple, in that only I play. He is strictly a voyeur. He gets enjoyment from watching or hearing about the things I do. If it ever got to the stage where he no longer enjoys it, I would stop, immediately. No question. I enjoy the sex with other guys, but a large part of that is knowing how much he's getting out of it too.
If I had to go back to a monogamous relationship with him it wouldn't bother me. After all, he's the one who really lights my fire and makes my bells ring, and nothing could ever beat the completeness of our love-making.
Difficult subject.
Children should have rights, but should those rights mean that they can act however they choose without fear of the consequences? I personally don't think so. There has to be a limit. Why should someone who has worked hard to have a nice home and garden, or a thriving business, not be able to protect them using reasonable means.... without fear of reprisal.... if a bunch of young thugs decides to destroy them?
Scrambled.
Tomato sauce or brown?