If it’s not one thing it’s another. DH just had it out with SD15 on the phone. She told him she is going to move with her half-brother back to her home state. DH stood up to her and said HELL NO, you’re not living on your own at 15/16, that he decides where she lives and living with her half-siblings is not an option.

The root of a lot of the problems with my stepfamily situation - jealousy.

DH is jealous that his boys’ stepfather spends more time with them than he does and that their stepfather is the one helping them with homework and going to their sports games and Cub Scouts activities and not him. (DH has them every other weekend) He can’t be happy that the boys have a father figure in their lives. He can only be insanely jealous that isn’t him and his boys aren’t going to remember their dad doing things like teaching them to pitch but their stepdad doing that instead.

DH is continuing to wallow in his daddy guilt about the lack of time he’s spending with his kids. I know it hurts him that he can’t spend as much time with his boys as he wants - but he has a stepson who absolutely adores him but he doesn’t seem to understand that or see the time he spends with his SS as being as valuable as the time he spends with his kids.

This has been bothering me after reading the Dear Abby article. Kids shouldn’t be actively encouraged to criticize their parents over their failures. It’s completely disrespectful. Even as a adult, I would never judge my parents for the choices they’ve made - good or bad - or demand that they explain themselves to me.