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Obligation?

Texasbred's picture
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My husband works everyday of the week and when he has his child for the weekend, I am the caregiver for the majority of this weekend (friday 8am-9pm) (sat 9am-6pm) and (sunday 9-6) i drop the child off on Sunday's and so therefor dad never sees the child on Sunday. When my husband gets home he flops down and watches tv and does minimal to spend quality time. I express the duties to my husband, but gets upset and throws a fit. Should I even keep this child on Sunday's since dad never sees them anyway? The child is disrespectful and dad has issues with consistency. I lay down rules, but dad changes them once he's home. I'm at a point to throw in the towel all because of this. I'm so stressed out. My kids are grown and out of the best. Each time I bring up wrong doing of his child he gets upset and starts talking about my kids....we're constantly at each others throats. I already resent my spouse and his child. Help?!

furkidsforme's picture

Stop being the free babysitter. It is not your job. What would he do with the kid if you were not in the picture? DO that.

twopines's picture

My advice is for dad to pick them up from their mother on his way home from work, and drop them off to their mother on his way back to work. Problem solved.

hereiam's picture

If Dad is not there, kid does not need to be there, since the whole point of visitation is for the kid to visit the dad.

SMilf's picture

I recently had a similar situation on my hands. DH works Fri -Sun 5pm to 5am. He and BM never made a set schedule, since they decided 50/50 was best. However, we would have SS3 for 10 or 12 days at a time before BM could be bothered to come get him. Naturally, when he was here on weekends, who do you think played single mommy all weekend? Yep. After a week of scouring sites like this one (yay), I just told DH that I didn't think I needed to single handedly parent his son when he is working. He was supportive and listened to my concerns. Shortly afterward he told BM she needed to step up because SS is their responsibility, not mine. Now I get to spend my weekends in skidfree bliss.I tell you, it's worth talking to your DH about. Your SC has 2 parents already. This isn't your job.

misSTEP's picture

You have no obligation to babysit your skids even if your DH thinks so. I would do it but only because my DH backed me 100%. You don't have that luxury. So he shouldn't get the luxury of free babysitting.

I'm sure that the kid is resentful of having to spend so much time with you and so little with dad. Nothing wrong with you, it's just biology.

Rags's picture

If your DH is not mature enough to engage with you, the parent in your household that actually parents and provides care for this kid, on an adult and respectful manner then there is no help and you know exactly what you should do. If DH is not home, refuse the Skid. That way you do not have to deal with the Skid or DH's idiot behavior.

Or better yet... move on and find a better way to life and enjoy your life.

IMHO of course.

Good luck.

I.hate.cats's picture

How long have you been with DH, how old is your skid and are we talking about a girl or boy? I would resent my husband when we first started dating and on occasion I'd have to watch SD6 who was 4 at the time. She would refuse to do things like help her sister who was 10 at the time clean their bedroom. After several attempts at redirection and SD adamantly refusing to help while yelling I'll tell my daddy that you're mean, to which I responded "Ok, you can sit at this table for the next five hours until daddy gets home. Then we'll tell him that I'm mean and you wouldn't help clean and didn't want to listen. Oh, you'll have to stand in the corner though when the other kids come in here to eat lunch. I hope you're not hungry, though because I only make lunch for good helpers who listen." That was the end of that.

Perhaps you can sit down with DH and write out a list of house rules that will apply to the child. Tell him it's for the child's benefit so they know what is and us not acceptable. Hopefully this will give you the opportunity to discuss some of your concerns regarding your s kid's behavior in a way that DH doesn't feel is attacking his parenting style. Once they're written down it gives you something to refer back to.

Also, have you thought about some kind of sport or activity that your skid can participate in on Sunday? It would give you some free time, might make your skid a little happier and would also give you some leverage; if you don't behave you won't get to go swimming, play soccer, go to gymnastics, whatever.

MelissaAllbright27's picture

Don't do it anymore.
Two of my skids are sweet and respectful, so I would be happy to have them for days at a time.
However, my other 2 skids sound even ruder than yours and I will do my very best to make sure I am never left alone with them.