You are here

here we go again.. SS's manipulation - HELP

confusedmomof3's picture

Ok, beyond frustrated about Skids..

We have had major issues with things happening around the house and no one knows anything about it.. i.e. blinds being broken, holes in walls, lamps being broken, etc. Normal kid stuff, but nothing that people need to be dishonest abut, right? I mean, I know kids lie sometimes to keep from getting in trouble. I have emphasized with my 9 year old daughter that "if you tell me the truth, I will work with you - if you lie, I won't be as flexible".. this has made a huge difference in how we communicate. I haven't been around my skids since birth, so I get that they aren't programmed the same as my daughter, however I tell them the same message and treat them with the same respect and love, yet they CONSTANTLY lie to me. It is now to the point where they lie to cause fights and this is pushing me beyond my limit of tolerance.

Last Thursday my DH and I were upstairs and the two SS's (10&13) were downstairs.. I walk down the steps and see that the dining room miniblind is yanked all the way up and stuck in that position. I try to fix it, but it's no good.. the wheel inside it is cracked. DH and I ask SS's "how did this happen".. we get a nice "I don't know" from both. Well.. we decide to let it go since we have no proof. Oh, and my biodaughter wasn't home when this happened.

Then Friday.. all hell breaks loose.

I pick up my daughter on my way home from work and get home about 45 minutes earlier than usual. I say hi to the boys and go upstairs to change out of my work clothes. After about 3 minutes SS10 yells up the stairs "someone threw a mini muffin wrapper in the toilet and I flushed it and now it's stuck".. I'm thinking "WTF, why did you flush it".. instead I calmly walk downstairs and look at the situation and ask the logical question of "who threw it in the toilet to begin with?" and I get another round of "wasn't me" and "I don't know".. Now, I know for a fact that there was one pack of mini muffins in the pantry when I left that morning to drop my daughter off at school. She takes one with her every morning for breakfast. I know that she didn't eat the muffins in the short amount of time since I got home because I gave her a snack because she asked for one (and she just doesn't eat that fast).. So... someone is lying and it's one of the Skids. I am not happy.

So I walk over to the kitchen counter to get a glass of water and I notice the counter is COVERED with sprinkles and crumbs froms someone eating a cookie - which isn't a big deal, but can you please clean up your mess?? I ask the question "who ate a cookie" and SS10 says "SK13 did".. I wipe up the mess and go about my business. SIDE NOTE - my daughter is sitting on the couch next to SK10 when he says this.

Well, DH gets home and I brief him on the fact that he needs to unclog a toilet and he asks the boys the same question "who did this" and gets the same answers. So he takes them aside one by one and it's the same story. DH comes over to me while I am in the kitchen and gives me their versions.. he says "SK13 said he only had pistachios as a snack and SK10 had nothing." I'm like "wait a second.. that's not true - SS10 said SS13 had a cookie".. SK10 looks at me and says "No I didn't.. I said I don't know who had a cookie"..

HOLD everything. This is NOT the first time he has pulled this crap of telling me one thing and then claiming he said "I don't know".. He has cause MULTIPLE fights by doing this.

I am now ready to strangle him, but I stay calm (no clue how, but I did).. I say "SK10, you did not say "I don't know" you said your brother ate a cookie - why are you being dishonest?" He argues back and now his dad joins his side saying "he says he didn't say it and I believe him".. My daughter then says "No, SK10 did say that, my mommy and I aren't lying"...
DH says to my daughter that she is "just agreeing with her because she is your mommy".. At this point I am seeing red.

I look at DH and say - your sons are being dishonest. I have no reason to lie. My daughter has no reason to lie. You need to take a step outside of this and look at the facts. He says there are no facts. No one saw the wrapper being put in the toilet. And he didn't hear SK10 say his brother ate the cookie so he can't call him a liar.

Uhmmm.. what about me hearing it? Who the hell am I? Doesn't my word count for anything? Apparently not.

A HUGE fight ensues. And I mean monumental. I am pretty much done. I can't live like this nor will I subject my daughter to an environment where lying and manipulation are ignored and basically rewarded.

So.. my relationship is destroyed.. thank you SK's and DH who lives in denial land. Good luck with your next relationship because it won't last.. you just gave your kids the power to destroy any relationship you have and drive away any female you ever care about.

duct_tape's picture

I have found that my SS will throw someone under the bus to save his own ass any day of the week. He has been caught red handed doing just that several times. Fortunately for me, my husband is just as furious when he does this as I am. But, still the kid is a habitual liar. He will take something (borrow), never return it, swear he never touched it, and just to make his story stick he will dispose of the item. Has been caught countless times. He will go to his freakin' grave with a lie. He will spend enormous amounts of energy to preserve the integrity of a lie!!! It's insane. He has thrown away tools, expensive software cds, books, A CELL PHONE!, an IPOD...and this is just what I have found!

Delilah's picture

You say you have instilled the same life lessons regarding lying into your ss's (although you acknowledge the fact you havent been there to teach them this lesson from word go) and they are continuing to lie, all the while its causing problems in your relationship, rows and destruction to your property.

The reason for the fact your skids will not take you seriously and whose behaviour will only spiral out of control is because your DH is a treacherous husband and lazy parent. Your ss's know they can misbehave, disrespect and laugh at you because DH enables it. HE also disrespects you and your dd because his kids will always be angels even if he caught them red handed, there will always be an excuse or someone else to blame.

My DH did something similar to me. I caught my ss (he was about 7 at the time) wiping snot into my mother's new cushions. Disgusting. I told DH immediately and pulled my ss up, he obviously lied to DH in front of me and said he didnt do it and DH told me as he hadnt seen it for himself he was taking his child's word over mine. His wife. An adult.

Afraid I saw RED. I asked DH why he married me if he didnt trust me. He said he did. I asked him why then he wouldnt believe me VS his child. I pointed out I was an adult and most kids will lie if they are caught out or want to cause problems. That if he didnt trust me (and if he doesnt believe you then he doesnt trust you) then we didnt have a marriage and perhaps it was time for me to treat DH as he was treating me. DH soon changed his tune and realised what a pillock he was being, he didnt do it again.

What compounded your situation was your DH completely undermined you, disrespected you and DD in front of his children. He may as well have handed them red paint and told them to chuck it at you and your home, it probably would have had the same damage. So god help you because your skids have now been told by your dear husband they can behave like animals and disrespect you, while DH hands them the tools to do it. Who needs enemies when you have a husband like that!

If your DH refuses to change and see sense then I am afraid there is nothing you can do about it, except disengage from skids, refuse to have them at your home and distance yourself from DH or chuck DH out.

PeanutandSons's picture

I am having the same issue in my house. Skids lie like crazy. Dh will believe them over me. It's infuriating.

confusedmomof3's picture

Yea, I get this too. Skids will lay all over dad while he is on the couch and if I even attempt to walk in and sit near him I get the death stare from them.. It's like "stay out, bitch." I can't say anything about it because daddy dearest just doesn't see it.

Ava999's picture

I have just walked away from a very similar situation. I was in a relationship with my BF for the past year and loved him very much. His ex wife has mental issues and is currently in a pyschiatric hospital following a suicide attempt (the day before she was due to sign new legal papers !!!). I have tried to show his son (9) what real love, care & respect is and I have been totally disrespected by him on an ongoing basis. I agree that my BF is enabling him just like you said in your post above. I cannot win even if I am always trying to do the right thing.

Nothing is ever straight forward, our weekends are spent with my BF giving into every whim he wants. He constantly drags out of his father, disrespects him, his grandparents, my family (he punched my little nephew in front of my family the first day he met him) and I really believe now that the goodness I have consistently shown him is to no avail. Since he was 3, several people who have had contact with his son (child minders, school, friends & friends parents) have pointed out he is out of control. He started counselling but nothing is ever followed through. He has no bed time, sleeps with his father when I'm not there and when I am has taken to whispering to his Dad in the next room to get his own way.

I did love my boyfriend very much but with his mental ex wife, out of control son & interfering mother, I never stood even a chance.

My bf told me on Monday before I left that he has no strength to fight for me or our relationship and nothing he does works when he comes to them. He is one of the kindest men I have ever met but he is being taken complete advance of and I can only imagine the life he has ahead.

His son is also 5 stone overweight at 9 and they don't really address this at all.

I have reached the end of my tether so felt I had no choice but to leave whilst we still at least cared about one another. I have started to resent him though and don't want us to end us fighting & loosing the love we have. I know you shouldn't give it to this type of behaviour but its one of the most difficult and unbearable situations I ever handled. I am a very strong independent woman with a great career but also have hopes and dreams of my own.

I think I have made the right decision for me.

Wish you all the luck in the world x

confusedmomof3's picture

Wow.. I feel so bad for you. Situations like ours are so unfair and so hard to accept. It's like we are destined to fail no matter what we do because the ball is never truly in our court. DH always has the control over how the relationship with the skids plays out. We could be Suzy Sunshine and absolutely perfect, yet we still will get screwed if we disagree with the skids.

I, too, love my DH to pieces, but resentment is setting in towards both him and his kids now and it will take a huge shift in dynamics to change the way I feel and honestly I don't think DH can make the changes necessary to make me feel better about blending this family.

So sad..

frustratedinNE's picture

I can beat all of these stories. One of my SS has many issues, Anxiety, Aspergers, computer addiction and awful horrendous personal hygiene, including encoprisis (crapping in his pants) and always has a weak reeking of feces. (he is 16) well, when he was younger we could smell his distinctive accidents, get him to clean up, shower. well, my BD when she was a baby he would blame the baby, the baby went in her diaper, ridiculous. He would sit in it all day if we did not prompt him to take care of it GROSS

starbucks29's picture

I just wanted to say that when you said this I really understand where you are coming from as I feel the same way in my relationship.

"So.. my relationship is destroyed.. thank you SK's and DH who lives in denial land. Good luck with your next relationship because it won't last.. you just gave your kids the power to destroy any relationship you have and drive away any female you ever care about."

having said that, I am nowhere near ready to leave. We just got married. But my situation is similar and I think I'd be very naive to think anything will ever change.

Best of luck to you. I think you are doing the right thing for you and your daugther.