Dear Valued Users,
It's with a heavy heart that we announce the permanent closure of StepTalk.org on August 31st, 2025.
This decision wasn't an easy one. For over twenty years, StepTalk has been a source of support for stepparents around the world! However, over the years, the costs associated with maintaining and upgrading the site to remain secure, meet current standards and maintain availability have become unsustainable.
We are incredibly grateful for your support, contributions and the community you've helped us build. Your engagement has made StepTalk.org a special place and we cherish the memories and connections made here.
We would especially like to thank Aniki for volunteering to be a moderator and for caring so much.
Thank you for being a part of our journey and we wish you all the best.
Sincerely,
Dawn and The StepTalk Team
Comments
I didn't make it to the end
I didn't make it to the end of your post because it was so long and not broken up into paragraphs so very difficult to read. What I got was this - your SO moved to the US after marrying his ex and having a child, there is a lot of he said she said baggage between them, there are behavioural problems with the children including stealing, which SO has not dealt with very effectively. You have been together 2 years.
2 years is early days in the life of a stepfamily, if SO can't address rule breaking and behavioural problems you will find it increasingly stressful and difficult to be involved with his children. I would carefully assess whether your SO is willing and able to enforce some boundaries with them before you consider taking your relationship to another level and tying yourself into this family. If you don't trust people who spend time in your home and have to hide your belongings that can really eat away at your peace of mind and cause a lot of resentment, which is destructive no matter how much you love SO. In a stepfamily love is not enough - the nuts and bolts of trust, support and discipline need to be in place.
You cannot control BM, and there are always 2 sides to any story, your SO may not be whiter and white in his actions towards her. He is responsible for the relationship with her and for your own peace of mind you should try not to get involved. It doesn't help anyone to trawl over 10 years worth of events, you have to try to deal with the situation as it exists now.
Repost with some paragraph
Repost with some paragraph breaks so we can read this. I can't get through the mass of unbroken text.
So far, it sounds as if you are in a challenging situation.
Good luck.
I didn't make it even a 1/3
I didn't make it even a 1/3 of the way through, and all I came away with is her SO likes to spin some tales about his ex-love life. Who cares about all the back and forth?
I was looking for
I was looking for constructive ideas/advice/input on how to handle my situation. I understand that you haven't made it to the end of the post, since I didn't use indentations when I should have. I will try to fix it, shorten it up, so that I can get to the meat and bones for you all. But please, please don't disrespect me on my blog. It took a long time for me to attempt to even piece this all together, and I don't appreciate the "who cares" attitude, Fur. I put it all in there to try to explain how it all got to this point (probably the last paragraph, which I'll use as the repost). Thanks.