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MORE DRAMA! HELP!

maria37's picture

I love this site and the advise everyone gives me and trust me i take it to heart. i have posted maybe two blogs since i found this site on july. i need advise again please.

my fiance and i were planning on moving in together when my lease is up in 6 months but the problem is i feel really sad. i have two boys but only half the time and he has two girls full time. the 4 year old girl is very bratty and he just makes things worse. he has always been on her side and never listens to the other kids its just her. even his older daughter who is 6 says she is his favorite his father even mentioned it to me before so its pretty apparent he has a favorite. her behavior was horrible but he really did try to work on it and she was doing much better but lately he is back to the way he was. trust me im super nice to these girls never have i ever been mean to them. i have no escape they are with us 24/7 but he has an escape from my boys since i have them half the time. in the past he would not make time for us just them and eventually things started changing and he gave me a ring but lately i feel like he watches what i say to see if im being nice or not to her. its ridiculous ive never been anything but nice. this might seem small but i took out a peace of ham from the fridge and she said "hey" so i put it back. he got upset and told me she just wanted the ham and why did i put it back why didnt i give her some. i at this point got upset and told him i was leaving because lately everything is a problem. he said i was selfish and its all about me. i said oh really if it was all about me then why have i taken spits, kicks, disrespect from your daughter on a daily basis and i stay. i could be alone with no cares and he told me to leave then.

as he was telling me this his daughter walked into the room and smirked at me. he never sees this or the fact that i constantly am saying good morning and she does not respond. he is making her think she is the leader and this behavior is bad. what should i do?

Comments

misguided's picture

RUN! You are setting yourself up for an intolerable situation if you go into it this way. It will only get worse as she get older. I would tell him either you change and you start laying down some rules or enjoy life with your daughter. Let him decide.
Good luck, I hope it works out for the best.

Bojangles's picture

My advice is don't move in with him. It's a real mistake to do it because of reasons of convenience or economy. If you're feeling unhappy now, when you can escape back to your own place, it will only worsen when you're living 24/7 with the issues you are already unhappy about. And then your children will be involved as well.

Only move if and when you feel that you have enough mutual understanding, and respect, and groundrules in place for you to feel comfortable and supported living with his children. I know a lot of posters are going to read my last sentence and snort, because a lot of stepmothers never get to that point and have years of frustration and unhappiness. I had a pretty long struggle myself.

Your post contains some classic symptoms that untold thousands of stepmothers are all too familiar with:
1. A defensive Dad who cannot accept even reasonable, constructive comments on his children, and who is prone to going into attack mode when such comments are made, which can only result in more resentment on your part. Defensive Dads frequently misinterpret frustration, stress and hurt as selfishness
2. A guilty Dad who does not understand that you both need and deserve time together to focus on your relationship, and that ultimately that time will be to the benefit of his children, and yours, because the quality of the relationship between the 2 of you is the bedrock of the family.
3. A Dad with a double standard who consciously or subconsciously wants you to love his children like your own, and be as loving and generous and tolerant as a parent, but without having equal rights to form and express opinions about their behaviour, and without the reward of their loving you back
4. Children who do not have clear, agreed boundaries and who are starting to realise they can manipulate the situation. This does not make them bad children, as I'm sure you know as the mother of two, all small children push to find out where their boundaries are, it's part of understanding their place in the hierarchy and exploring their control over their world. In a good stable home they meet clear, consistent boundaries, in a separated home they often get mixed, flexible or overly negotiable boundaries.

To stand a chance of overcoming these problems you need to find a way of:
1. Sharing and being understanding about each others feelings with regard to the children. He needs to understand how much effort it requires on your part, even if that effort is willingly given, and be understanding and supportive. You need to understand how protective and insecure he is about his children and try not to push his buttons.
2. Discussing and agreeing your role with his children, and his role with yours, particularly with regard to authority to make requests and give instructions, and discipline
3. Discussing and agreeing some fundamental household rules for all 4 children: manners, mealtimes, chores, bedtimes etc. Otherwise these daily routines become a constant source of tension on all sides

Personally I failed to push for enough clarity on 2 and 3, and struggled for years to get my DH to understand how hard it is to have a pseudo parental role with someone elses children. In my experience, and from what I read on this site, many Dad's mistakenly believe that if their partner has a problem with the stepparent role it is 'their' problem, rather than recognising that there are some universal stresses and tensions and problems that 99% of stepfamilies experience. The only way I made any headway with getting DH to understand that my feelings were legitimate was books, and later counselling. When I read to him from some of the books on stepparenting things that absolutely endorsed stuff I had already tried to explain to him, he finally started to get it. A book I particularly liked was The Stepparents Parachute: The Four Cornerstones of Successful Stepparenting.

maria37's picture

Wow thank you for replying what you wrote makes so much sense it is exactly how i feel. I think i will try to get that book and read up see what i can learn. Thanks again!

Bojangles's picture

Oh and see Caregiver1127's post which I just read:
ANOTHER ARTICLE ON HOW TO BE A HAPPY STEP PARENT - These seem to address most of the issues on here - share with your Spouse new
This makes loads of good points