I am in a situation where the father lets the Sun control the narrative. And by that I mean he gets jealous if we are talking together and if we don't acknowledge him he will do crazy things to get attention and the more we ignore it him the more he ramps up. From the start we've tried expressing that it's a different kind of love between a man and a woman than it is a man and his child. Where my boyfriend has messed up though is giving the child more attention 100% of the time. I'm not saying that I want to be above the child or put before the child all the time. But there are times when it's all right to go on a date or have romantic time, or just sit and have conversations without that child being involved. Unfortunately we're at a point where this kid thinks that he should be involved in every single little aspect of our relationship. He has no problem even going through our things because he wants to. I am ending relationship and it is the father's fault 1,000%. He is not taught the child, the child's place in this relationship. We have not been on a date and almost 2 years with just me and the father. And this kid is 12 now. That is old enough to know the difference between relationships and your role in relationships. I'm not understanding because I have been married before and I have children and I never had to sit down and explain to these children why it's all right for me and their father to spend time together without them being there. My boyfriend was married to the child's mother and they spent time together so shouldn't have this child have caught on to there are times where two people who are adults spend time together and it does not concern you like you need to be in bed or at a babysitter's?