Time is Money...

Time is money because the more time a Dad has his minor children in his home, the less money the court allows the mother in support.

Most custody agreements make the mother the primary or custodial parent, regardless of mitigating circumstances, her past parental performance and life history. In fact, the deciding authority in one of my cases even overlooked a serious violent criminal conviction and later complaints of a violent nature that I presented  along the children's poor academic achievements over several years.  Would one expect such a pass if it were against the father? Highly doubtful.
In short, she calls the shots, whatever she says, goes. No accountability. Dad's input is nil.

I, like many fathers, ended up being the"absent" parent fit years. I didn't care about having  anything to do with my kids. That's how the Moms wanted things too (remember, I'm twice divorced), along with getting paid.
Pay your support, shut up, and don't rock the boat... That is my perception if the system.
Well, after some maturing, I decided that I did not feel comfortable being an absent Dad, nor standing in the sidelines, playing the part of "weekend Dad".

I came to my senses about the time my two youngest were about to enter middle school (junior high to some).
I chose to be involved, to take part. Unlike most, I did something about it, fought the "system" and after a period of time, eventually won the right to spend more than the usual "every other weekend"  with my kids. It took several years, but eventually my kids got to spend Thursday overnights weekly, every other week Thursday after school thru Monday morning, and summers, alternating whole weeks.
It was pretty exciting!

When a man can get the court to award more than the "minimum visitation guideline", it's a big deal, it is a serious accomplishment. That alone should demonstrate something about him. Especially since I did this WITHOUT A LAWYER!

It its a very hard thing to accomplish, many sacrifices have to be made to see it thru. It is especially hard when Dad has to work 1/2 again harder and longer to make ends meet,  as he is supporting two household now.

I wanted my kids to have their own rooms in our home, gadgets, goodies, the whole shot, and that costs money.

We bought a house. We moved into the kid's school district, walking distance from both the middle school and the high school. This eliminated the transportation issues, streamlined things. Most especially, it reduced my having to have contact with the kids mother.
We let the kids  know that they were welcome any time, just let someone know you are coming, the house is always open to them, but, unless there is a damn good reason, my kids cannot visit me outside of the established parameters of the order. I'll go into that whole deal another time.

When a parent hinders their teenage children from visiting the other parent, who is practically in the neighborhood, you can bet that there are problems ahead. It's time for her to make them NOT want to visit Dad at all!