mackinawbob

My girlfriend has two kids from her ex-husband. They've been divorced for over two years and were seperated for six months before that. She's had a couple boyfriends since then, but none serious until me. I've been with her for about six months now; we get along great, I like her kids and vice versa, and I think this relationship is going to last.

The only problem is her ex, of course. He was/is verbally abusive to her and every time they talk she gets stressed out. He is very good at playing head games with her which is the the reason she left him in the first place. He is also unemployed strictly so she gets no child support; I know this because he and I have many friends in common and grew up in the same town. He has visitation every weekend which he blows off half the time to go to out drinking, and the kids cry. I could go on all night about the immature, petty games this douche plays, but I'll just get to the point.

He says (very incorrectly) that I am a bad influence on his kids. I am a successful small business owner and have worked my butt off for what I have. I have never been to jail, kept my nose pretty clean when everyone I knew was druggin' and boozin'. These kids, (6-boy and 11-girl) are awesome, smart kids who get no intellectual support from their father at all, and they have started to look up to me a little bit.

The ex can't stand this, is making my girlfriend's life miserable, and is talking a bunch of crap to everyone he knows about how I am ruining his kids and am just with his ex for easy pu**y, which is also not true at all.

I want to kick the crap out of him, try to knock some sense into him. Try to make him realize that if he just played nice things would be so much easier. It would not be a challenge for me to beat his *** at all, but I don't want to go to jail. He needs a serious attitude adjustment but I am clueless of how to give it to him. We live in a small, close knit suburb - and if I do something drastic it could actually affect my business. I have been incredibly diplomatic up to this point at my girlfriend's request.

Any ideas?