Confessions: I won't let my son be ostracised because I had an affair with his friend's mum

A man has said that he doesn't want his son to be ostracised from his group of friends just because he had an affair with one of the children's mums.

Sharing his story anonymously, the man said that some years ago, before he had a son, he was dating a woman for a short while - but then he was approached by another man.

It turned out the woman was married and the man was her husband, who was understandably upset, so the storyteller apologised and said he had no idea they were married - and he never saw either of them again.

Then, years later, he took his son to a friend's birthday party and saw the couple there - and discovered they were the parents of his son's best friend and soon they asked him to leave the event.

Sharing the story on Reddit, the man said: "When I was 20 I was with this woman in her early 30s for a while. This was about a year before my son was born.

"Then one day I got approached by this guy who turned out to be her husband. He got suspicious of her, started to follow her around, I had no idea and stopped having contact with her.

"Met my girlfriend, had my son James after that. He’s six and joined a baseball team at the park a while back. Became friends with everyone and that included this kid Owen who’s like seven or eight I think. My son always makes friends with everyone.

"One of his teammates invited James to his birthday party which was yesterday.

"This is going to sound like some tv drama, but guess who Owen’s parents are? The woman I dated and her husband (so I guess they stayed together). Both of them were there and it was super super awkward."

The man said that he avoided the couple as much as he could, but Owen would come over to talk to James and so he could not stay out of their attention for long.

He continued: "I know neither of us were expecting to see the other here of all places. He approached me eventually, thought it was gonna turn into something else but he said he thinks it’s better if I left.

"Now if it was just me at a random party then yeah, but this was a party my son was invited to and don’t feel fair to make him stop hanging around with his friends over this.

"I said we can avoid each other and not interact at all but let the kids have their fun.

"He still wouldn’t change his mind and I didn’t either. I suggested at least give it an hour since we just got there and then I’ll leave with my son.

"The husband kept saying after what I did to their family this is the least I could do.

"They ended up leaving early instead with Owen. My son was confused and bummed out his friend left but he got to enjoy the rest of the party."

The man shared his story online and asked for advice and lots of people rushed to his defence, although lots of Reddit users could see the husband's point of view too.

One user said: "The guy's problem should be with his wife, not with you. You're innocent in this if you truly had no idea she had a husband when you were seeing each other. Shame its impacted the kids though."

A second said: "It's strange to me that the other guy has no issue with his wife s****ing around behind his back. I would feel uncomfortable being around either one of them as well."

While a third added: "It wasn't Owen's birthday party. He had no right to kick a guest out of someone else's birthday party."