Emotional clip of a little girl's reunion with her mom shows the sad realities of 50/50 child custody

More than a couple, a divorce can be especially devastating for a child. When people with children separate, the kids are usually the ones who shoulder the emotional baggage. During a divorce, the mothers are usually the ones who are granted custody, but in some cases, the court gives both parents equal charge, making sure that the children don't feel the void of either. However, such shared custody is not always easy, and this profound truth was highlighted when Samantha Roxanne (@roxsam13 on TikTok) captured her daughter's reaction when she met her after a long time.

In a now-viral video, Roxanne recorded her daughter's priceless reaction when she saw her mother standing outside her school. "Mom, I'm going to stay with you?" the little girl asked with excitement clearly visible in her eyes. However, the very next moment, she was a little disappointed as her mother said, "Not today, but you are going to be with me for a little bit." Although Roxanne's daughter was sad that she wouldn't be staying with her mom, the thought of spending some time together made her jump with excitement. However, at one point, the girl could no longer control her emotions as she hugged her mother and broke down in tears. "The heartbreaking side of equal custody, and the hardest part is knowing her little heart feels every minute we’re apart," Roxanne wrote in the caption.

Meanwhile, reacting to the video, a father who goes by @notinline247 wrote, "As a dad with 50/50 custody, it sucks when my daughter cries when I pick her up and she wants to go with her mom. I try my best to be a good dad, and I will always be there for her." Another user @muahmilff commented, "I hated 50/50. My kids would always say, 'Mom, why aren’t you coming?' I usually cried to sleep because the loneliness was horrible. But eventually we stopped co-parenting and just got more mature and got back together. Things have been going well, and they are very happy."

User @lifewithhaydee chimed in and wrote, "My heart breaks for kids. They don’t deserve the uncertainty and the confusion. No child should ever have to go through this. I’m not a parent, but I certainly wish parents could adult and do things." On the other hand, @haleighcw_xx, who had a similar experience, wrote, "Parents divorced when I was 4, so glad they had 50/50 custody. I always knew if I missed one, that they were just a few days away. And if I didn’t want to see one, well… same thing, lol!"

A user @joefromwinterfell admitted, "This made me cry. I was a single dad for 18 years. It broke my heart seeing my kids, looking out a window, hoping their mother would show up after her many broken promises, saying she would come to visit." An anonymous user @geyez89 shared, "When my kids were little, we fought for custody, and he literally gave up in court and said to the judge in front of the kids, he doesn’t want them. It was a heartbreak for my kids, but I never kept it."

You can follow Samantha Roxanne (@roxsam13) on TikTok for more such parenting content