This was DW's lates excuse as to why SD17 can't help with the yard work. A bit of background below:

Despite showing some occasional signs of progress, DW is still a card-carrying "friend" parent, who zealously works to pamper and baby SD17. For those of you who have followed my posts, you have seen how my DW will bend over backwards to defend SD17, always endeavoring to find a positive "spin" to SD17's actions and choices, while at the same time sweeping legitimate concerns under the rug. Nothing is ever SD17's fault, teachers are out to get her, etc. I'm sure most on here are familiar with this routine.

Well, of course DW's protectiveness extends to anything that I ask SD17 to do. SD17 has no chores, does not pick up her room, and generally can't be bothered to get off the couch. I think that this is really wrong, as kids should have at least some chores to help out around the house. Chores build discipline, teach useful skills, and help build pride in your home (which one day, kids would hopefully apply to homes of their own). I have mostly given up trying to get DW to require chores of SD17, but occasionally I will try, with the most recent attempt relating to raking leaves.

I asked DW to have SD17 rake the leaves in the backyard, and at first, DW tried putting it off by saying that SD17 was busy with school, or might have homework. This was BS of course, as SD17 is a lousy student, and to my knowledge has never once done homework. Once school was over for the semster, DW could not use this excuse any more, so she said that SD17 might get "cold" while raking the leaves. I should point out here that it seldom gets below 40 degrees, and SD17 has plenty of warm clothes. Also, our yard is not so big, so it would not have taken all that long. Finally, we had a beautiful, warm day during the Christmas break. The stage was set for SD17 to actually do some work. At this point, DW finally came up with an excuse that I could not overcome: there might be snakes in the backyard, and she couldn't take the chance that SD17 might get bitten.

I was floored when I heard this ridiculous excuse. Our home is in the middle of the suburbs, so we do not have problems with wild animals. I've seldom seen squirrels and birds, and I have never once seen a snake or anything remotely dangerous. This was just another attempt by DW to prevent me from imposing chores on SD17, so she could be the "hero" to SD17 by circumventing me, the evil old step-dad.

As you can surmise from the above story, DW does not ever block my attempts to impose chores out of any concern for SD17's safety. She only does it so she won't "upset" SD17, who then might not want to be buddies. DW does not understand that she is actually harming SD17 in the long-run, because SD will never learn any responsibility, or how to do things for herself. She will always be dependent on DW, and has virtually zero chance of becoming a responsible, independent adult some day.

And guess who got to rake the leaves, braving the "snakes," and "cold" weather. That's right, me! Apparently DW isn't too worried about those things affecting me, just SD17. It is utterly maddening. Ugh.