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Has anyone read the book "Baby Teeth" and recognized the dumb daddy dynamic?

Shieldmaiden's picture

Submitted by Shieldmaiden on Sat, 09/07/2024 - 2:58pm

I recently read the book "Baby Teeth" by Zoe Stage, about a 7 year old girl that is a sociopath and tries to kill her mother several times. The father in the story totally fits the "oblivious disney dad" role. I kept having flashbacks to my own experience as a stepmom to three SD's who were being alienated from us by their Bm and turned suddenly cold towards us. 

I was curious if any other stepmoms have read this, or other books that reminded them of what they went through. There is also a follow up book called "Dear Hanna" about the sociopathic daughter after she grows up and becomes......wait for it.... a stepmom. I love the irony of how she chose a man exactly like her dingbat father, and how she starts to see his flaws when she has to fill the stepmom role. (Her boyfriend has a daughter who is 16 that he dotes on.)

I'd love any book suggestions that have relevance toward stepmoms, and what they endure.

Comments

Shieldmaiden's picture

Submitted by Shieldmaiden on Sat, 09/07/2024 - 4:04pm

Alternate psychology is fascinating to me since my mom had multiple personalities (DID) and my oldest SD has low empathy. I always wondered what purpose sociopaths have in society. Were these people considered awesome warriors during medieval times or were people just as terrified of them back then? 

Harry's picture

Submitted by Harry on Sun, 09/08/2024 - 8:41am

Mental illness to there kids.  What means if you have a crazy BM. SK most likely will be cr any too.  It's just takes tine until SK understands they can get away with it.    when they cry abuse , what happens to them.  Nothing. Seeing a therapist..   Who goes down that dark road with them. 
'So be careful when going into new relationships.  Most likely it's not going to be all roses 

Lillywy00's picture

Submitted by Lillywy00 on Sun, 09/08/2024 - 10:44am

They sure do pass that generational baggage down ... too clueless or lazy to do anything about it. 
 

My former skids weren't sociopaths but they were demanding, lazy, entitled, selfish, noisy peace-disturbing, relationship-destroying, money pit liabilities who contributed nothing to our household ....  not too far off from the nut job breeder who did the bare minimum to raise them after school during weekdays

 

***I did however think this type of unchecked entitlement was breeding narcissists-in-training which made me feel less inclined to want to spend any significant amount of resources on them 

AlmostGone834's picture

Submitted by AlmostGone834 on Mon, 09/09/2024 - 9:41pm

Reading it now after this post. God I wanna smack the father. He actually turns my stomach. I hope the wife grows a spine by the end of the book and leaves them both.

ETA: Ok upon further reading, the mom is driving me nuts in this book too...

Shieldmaiden's picture

Submitted by Shieldmaiden on Tue, 09/10/2024 - 12:47pm

Yes, the mom in the book is annoying too, and the dad doesn't listen to her. The sequel shows me that family dynamics tend to follow down throught the generations. Interesting, but although I can identify with the mom in some ways ( not being listened to, being put second after the child) I don't really like her as a person. She seems superficial and vain.

The psycho child reminds me of my oldest SD though, and gave me flashbacks.