A valid reason for a woman to leave her child?

[jaaaarne]

Guys, I really need your help. This is a pretty much relationship advice for a romance novel, though, so I'm sorry if the question seems stupid or inappropriate.

Now. The story is set in the modern era Western-type society, about 7-10 years in the future. There is a couple that once had a sudden, bright and passionate romance, that, sadly, turned out to be pretty short-lived. Therefore, they divorce, having gone from being madly in love to hostility. The question is, they have a 2 y.o. baby which I need to stay with its father after the divorce.

I don't want to demonize the mother and I really don't want to kill her off (she's not a bad person, besides, it would be awesome if I could still have this character later in the story), but I need to somehow make it work. Being a woman myself I honestly cannot come up with any explanations. This has to be a non-scandalous arrangement, no forcing the kid away from her mother or something. They have to agree on the terms. I need some valid reason for the mother to agree that the baby will be better off with the father, although she and her ex-husband are now pretty hostile to each other. The mother is about 27-29 when she divorces her husband. Also, she's a kind of a performer (not a celebrity!) traveling a lot, so maybe the arrangement can somehow be tied to that?

All and any input on this will be appreciated. :)

Comments

[ex_pippin880]

You could also have an element of post-natal depression, or the mother could just have failed to bond with the baby. Or just plain doesn't like kids.

Of course, hopefully in a decade, there'd be a much more gender-equal society and thus no reason necessary. Yeah, right. :(

[ex_pippin880]

Also

Being a woman myself I honestly cannot come up with any explanations.

...What?

[feuervogel]

IAWTC.

[jaaaarne]

Probably was not clear enough, my fault. I meant that usually I try to put myself in the character's place and ask myself: "How would I react, what would I do, if I were this character? What could be my reasons?" And you'd think that in such situation this kind of thing could've been easier to straighten out by myself because I'm a woman, too. But since I do not have children myself, it's really hard to get the right answer while asking myself: "What would I do if I were that character?"

That's why I asked for help. I believe there are people who are more familiar with such situations and can give me a couple of ideas to work with. :)

[ex_pippin880]

Ah. It seemed like you were implying something like "as a woman I believe that all women automatically love children and live for children and any women who doesn't like or care for children must be demonised" which uh yeah.

[jaaaarne]

From what I've seen so far, such situations in fan fiction (and sometimes in pro fiction as well) are often handled in two ways: a woman either dies a horrible death or is written as an evil harpy from which the child must be taken at any cost. I don't want either scenario since they're unbelievable and very cliche. So, I'm asking exactly because I don't want to demonise a woman. :)

Sorry if I were a bit clumsy with words in my post. It's not a native language for me, so the mistakes and awkward sentences are inevitable. :)