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Well...I tried

PostSanity's picture

Tonight at dinner, I apparently did a crap job of hiding my misery. Tomorrow the skids come back. I'm always like this the night before but I usually hide it better. But my DH noticed and asked me what was wrong. I could've said nothing or that I was just tired, but I thought in that moment no I want to tell him the truth. We normally do so well communicating even about difficult things. We've been practicing really trying to listen and understand one another.. So I told him that I'm concerned about the skids coming back over. I told him that their attitudes have declined dramatically and that I'm tired of dealing with the drama and selfishness. His response? "OK well I'll just leave you to your soapbox there..." and walked off. When I told him that was extremely rude to just cast aside my legit feelings, he said that it was ridiculous and that he'd never seen someone look so upset about their skids coming home. I told him that he's not a stepparent and cant tell me what's normal or not normal about my feelings. We went to bed barely speaking and no goodnight kisses. Our marriage is happy when the skids aren't around or aren't part of the convo. We communicate well until they get brought into the convo. He is always very defensive like they can do no wrong and my feelings about them and their behavior is always invalidated!!!

Ok im done with my "soapbox"

Comments

ndc's picture

I'm sorry your husband reacted that way.  He is wrong.  He should be more considerate of your feelings - they are legitimate and real.  I hope the skids behave decently this visit.

Rumplestiltskin's picture

People who have never been there truly don't understand what it's like. I will be the first to admit that early after my divorce i had no idea what it was like to deal with someone else's dysfunction. My kids were the most important thing in the world to me and it didn't even register that the person i was dating would not feel the same way. Looking back, i now realize that meant i was sooo not ready to move on to a new relationship. How naive i was. It's honestly probably the rare person who hasn't been there themselves who can truly "get it." Your DH has no idea what he's talking about. 

Wicked stepmo.'s picture

It is very hurtful when a SO invalidates your feelings. Placing aside his own feelings for his children. He should still try to be empathetic to yours because you are his wife and he is supposed to care about you too. 

advice.only2's picture

So where do you go from here? He invalidates your feelings because of his own insecurities and makes you feel diminished so that he doesn't have to deal with you...so what now?

advice.only2's picture

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Stepdrama2020's picture

Isnt it just the way. A harmonious relationship until the skids are about to rear their nasty heads. You were feeling vulnerable and opened up to your DH and THAT is what you get. Suck it up buttercup is his feelings on this. Not good.

You do realize when the skids bless you with their nasty presence defer everything I mean everything to your DH.

My therapist once told me skids cannot stop a parent from getting married but they have the power to break it up if they do it well enough, and you have a non supportive DH.

Let DH feel all their thunder. Do not help in anyway. Go out and enjoy yourself while DH deals with their piss poor behavior.

lieutenant_dad's picture

Relationships are about quality, not quantity. We'd never say that a relationship is a "good" relationship if one partner hit the other only once a week, or only cheated once a month, or only spent all the savings when they go on their bi-annual Vegas trip.

OP, your relationship isn't a good one just because your DH is only dismissive when you talk about this one subject. That he's only belittling when talking about this one subject. That he's only emotionally toxic on this one subject.

The issue isn't his kids. The issue is that he'd rather be a bully and emotionally abusive than sort through his own crap to have a productive conversation with his wife about a problem in your marriage. He behaves this way to silence you and control the narrative - no differently than a person who would hit or shove their partner to control them.

If he disagrees with your assessment of the situation, that's fine. There are many better ways of communicating that. He can also say "dear, I love you, but this is an emotional topic for me that I can't handle right now." He never actually has to accept that his kids bother you, but where he crosses the line is using emotional abuse to get that across to you.

Re-read that: he never actually has to accept that his kids bother you, but he crosses the line when he uses emotional abuse to send you that message.

Read that over and over and over. The kids aren't the problem here. They may be A problem, but THE problem is him being abusive in his delivery. There is no amount of abuse that can exist in a relationship to make it "good".

Don't accept this. Don't just "get off your soapbox". Re-focus on the problem with him, and the problem is him being abusive to control your thoughts, feelings, and actions. He needs therapy. You need therapy. He needs to change how he acts. You don't have to be there for him to do that. You don't deserve to continue to be abused just so he can figure it out. Remember that.

hereiam's picture

So, your husband asks you what's wrong, then completely dismisses you. Nice. Nothing that you said was out of line, mean, or otherwise inappropriate (nor were you on a soapbox).

He would rather be mad at you, than take a good hard look at his misbehaving kids and a good hard look at himself as a father. I never got an answer on your other blog regarding what your husband does about their lying, the stealing, and the disrespect, so I assume he doesn't do a damn thing and doesn't want to. That's why he hates when you point it out.

Anybody would be upset about kids coming into their home, acting like your step kids act. And, how they act, is on your husband.

Merry's picture

Your feelings ARE legitimate, and you know that, right? Your DH handled that very poorly. I hope you can go back to that conversation and tell him he was a d1ckhead.

Even when things are GOOD with the skids, it can be a drain. I never looked forward to coming home when my adult SS lived with us for a time, and he was generally a good guy (until the self medication started) and helped out around the house. My kitchen hasn't been as clean since he left.

Add your lying, stealing skids and it's no wonder you're in a funk before they arrive. Your DH chooses to ignore it and belittle you, and that is hurtful.

hereiam's picture

Even when things are GOOD with the skids, it can be a drain.

Yep. My SD was a good kid, no trouble, DH took care of all of her needs, but there was still some angst every other Friday and it was a relief when she went home on Sunday.

may927's picture

How do you explain to your husband that it's stressful to have skid stay with you eveb though they are nice, respectful kids?   Sometimes I wish my SD was a brat more often so my reason for getting down in the dumps when she arrives EOW would seem more legitimate.  

hereiam's picture

My DH knew it was stressful for me because I did not have kids and have never wanted kids. He was very understanding about it and it was not a problem, at all.

Although I wasn't thrilled that she was coming over, I wouldn't say that I was down in the dumps about it. I knew my husband would be happy to see her and I saw it as preparing for a guest. Cleaned the house, occasionally planned things for her, had dinner ready when he arrived home with her, I tried not to see it as a burden. Wine helped.

missgingersnap2021's picture

What you wrote I could have written almost word for word! It is amazing how good things are when skids arent around or even discussed. My DH and I are in the middle of a 9 day periord without seeing SD16 becuase she went to the beach with some friends and missed her regular Wed night. (This is the first time ever in over 6 years that she has missed a wed night! and the first time I have been able to go more than 6 days without her being here)  I feel like we are on our honeymoon!!! Things have been sooo good! 

Thefatherismyfamily's picture

He needs to know the truth. I'm glad you shared with him. One day someone else will tell him the truth too. One time someone came up to us and told DH his daughter was like a wild animal. I told him that before. He was humbled. Now DH accepts that I don't enjoy being around his children too much. He knows how intolerable they are. All you need to do is to keep repeating your message. Some people need repetition.