Entitled teen SD
Now I know teenagers act like they should have everything and they know everything but this is ridiculous.
SD13 has been stealing DD18's clothes since we moved in 3 years ago. Of the 10 or so times DD has caught her or thought her things were missing because of SD only twice has DH acknowledged that is how DD's things were gone. Once was because there was a photo of her on her FB (taken at her bedroom at her mom's) in a shirt that DD bought in another state at an event and the second time was just a couple weeks ago. Every other time DH's reaction has been 1/well, I don't think she'd really do that 2/they don't even wear the same size (they do) 3/your DD's room is so messy it'd probably in there and she just can't find it or 4/I didn't see her do it so I don't have proof and we're not going to act on an assumption, she's a good kid.
So, a couple weeks ago SD13 gets here from her mom's (they have 50% custody with once a week exchanges) and DD says "mom, I think she's wearing my jeans, but I can't tell for sure so I don't want to say anything". Sigh, ok. The next day DD comes out of SD's room with the jeans and a pair of shoes and says "yep, they were the jeans, I've started putting an orange dot in the pockets of my pants with Sharpee to see if my things are in her room/laundry since stepdaddy doesn't believe it could be happening and look here" "oh, BTW, there was a button missing on them and a new one has been sewn on so she'd had them at her mom's for awhile". Fuck.
SD gets home from school, Dh confronts her. SD lies and lies and lies. Says they were in a give away pile so she took them from the garage, not from DD's room (not true - these were expensive jeans, DD was planning on trying to sell them, not donate them). And then goes on about why was anyone in her room it's her room and no one else belongs in there. Well honey, you're the only person in this house who can't respect other's belongings, they then have the right to go look for them. The whole time he was talking to her she was as sassy as could be, full of lies and backtalk. I finally said a few things (I'm mostly disengaged but when they start fucking with my daughter's things she works so hard for mama bear intervenes) reminding her that all she would have to do is ask DD if she could borrow something and she may be allowed to do so (she has never tried that) but if the answer was no she would have to accept it and maybe she could try mentioning to us when she wants something (she pretty much only tells her mom when she wants/needs something or makes her godmother take her shopping). I also said that if she asked us for something and felt the wait was too long she could always go to her mom for it (yeah, could be considered out of line but this is the first time I've said anything like that and she really is in need of a reality check).
A couple weeks before that she had asked us for an iPhone and I actually didn't think it was the worst idea - she already had a smartphone. We told her she would need to improve on a couple things then we'd talk about it some more. Apparently we were not quick enough for her. She ended up breaking her old phone and getting her mother to switch carriers so she'd buy her the iPhone. I told her that was a pretty shitty thing to do since we were in discussion to get it for her. Her response "well, I didn't know when you would". She actually expects INSTANT gratification. She did not understand why this was a problem.
Last week, she had been giving my husband grief over every little thing. He ended up taking her phone away. She was talking to him like she is his wife and correcting anything he would say and just being sassy in general. He tells me that he's already told her she will not have her cel phone for the time she's here next week because he thinks she needs to work on her attitude and engage with the family and think about what she's been doing. Her response "yeah, that won't work, don't bother taking my phone away". She really thinks she has some input as to what her punishment is or what kind of attitude we should expect from her. DH went into her room a couple days ago to look for something of SS's and he found a note "see anything you like in here "dad"? (yes, dad was in quotation marks". On that note it also said there were 4 more hidden. One said she hated him, one said he had no right to be in her room and she has every right to say that. I told him to take her door off the hinges. She has no right to privacy in my mind at this point until she can start being respectful and decent. We'll see if he goes through with it.
Has anyone else had to deal with anything like this?
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Comments
Take the door off the hinges
Take the door off the hinges yourself. She doesn't deserve the door on her room if she's going to constantly take things from other family members. She can have privacy in her room the day she stops taking stuff and proves that she can be trusted to have the door back.
She sounds a lot like the SD that I've come to know and loathe in my own life. Overly entitled, demanding, and sure thinks she can make demands of US and tell us what we are allowed to expect of her. My SD even felt it was necessary this summer to lecture ME on how "poorly" I was taking care of "her" cat. Because she felt her cat was too skinny (even though the cat has actually gained weight since we moved out here) and that I wasn't feeding her properly. Never mind the fact that I'm the only one who feeds and takes care of this cat that isn't even mine. I complained about that to SO, told him that his kid's acting too big for her britches and way overstepping her boundaries with me. It was especially irksome because I had spent the entire evening doing things SHE wanted to do and helping her deep condition her nasty rats nest that she calls her hair. He said "Well, she's just trying to exert herself because she feels so distressed about everything. She feels like you're judging her, so, she judged you" Oh, GFY SO! She's being a brat and you know it! I will not tolerate that nonsense in my house any longer.
SD also takes things that do not belong to her. She hides them in her room and absconds with them when she leaves. And, everything she takes belongs to me. She feels justified in this for some reason, we're not really sure because she plays stupid when she's caught ("Oh, uh, I didn't realize that I took that. I must have not been paying attention when I was packing"). So, from now on, she's going to be monitored whenever she packs her bags after a visit (or, at the very least, they will be inspected before she leaves the house) and her room will be gone through as needed when she's here to make sure she's not keeping my things in there.
That's on *my* agenda as
That's on *my* agenda as well. DH, says he wants it but is not making any moves to make it happen. I actually don't think it's family counseling that needs to happen as much as SD needs some individual counseling.
Good point. I am currently
Good point. I am currently on a weight restriction so I can't move the door but if that mofo is up in 2 weeks I will take it down. Why did it not occur to me to do it myself? Lol. Probably because we live in the house my husband had pre-me so it doesn't feel like my home (3 years later) KWIM?
She has offered to have her dad look through her things before she leaves and her laundry before she puts it away but as he's pointed out (and she's well aware) he does not know the difference between her clothes and my daughter's. Hell, the man puts my underwear in their clothes piles when he sorts laundry and not only has he seen em up close and personal but I outweight the girls by 75-100 lbs!!
Her mom doesn't help the situtation - SD is acting out cause she's not heard over here. What the eff ever. Whatever it takes to make it sound like this doesn't happen there, too - which is why all clothing from BM's house comes with SD's initial on the tags - they have to mark all the clothes of the kids/stepkids in their house so no one takes anyone else's belongings.
Oh I know exactly what you
Oh I know exactly what you mean about not feeling like it's your home, too. I never felt at home in SO's townhouse because he bought it pre-me for his dysfunctional little crew (himself, SD, and GUBM). The place we live now feels like home to me, so, I am extra vigilant about SD pushing me aside and trying to make me feel out of place and uncomfortable. Not that it was OK for her to do in the old house, but, I just never felt at home there even when she wasn't around.
Maybe DH should have you help him go through her things, then since he's clueless about what belongs to her and other family members? My SO is the same way. He puts her crap in my laundry piles and puts my things in her piles. So frustrating. It's worse now because SD has giant feet the same size as mine, and wears the same sizes I do. But. Since she is five to six inches shorter than me, there's a definite difference in the length of her clothes, particularly pants, when compared to mine.
And why am I not surprised by your BM's attitude? Ours is the same exact way. SD is "perfect" at GUBM's, so, it must be our problem and certainly not that of SD. Even though we know SD is a troll to GUBM, too.
Oh absolutely. DD went
Oh absolutely. DD went through a huge internal debate before finally letting us put a lock on her room. She doesn't like the idea - especially since the dogs hang out there DH and I have a key to it and she has no problem with us going in there if we need to find something or reset the internet connection (as it should be with a kid who lives rent free in her parent's house).
Yes. And that's what we do.
Yes. And that's what we do. It just took a long time before DD would agree to having a lock on her bedroom door. I can't blame her - who really wants to live like that?
She's gotten in the habit of just closing and locking her door whenever she's not home so she doesn't forget.
That's likely a discussion
That's likely a discussion we'll be having this weekend. She needs to know that while it is her home her dad and I pay for it and we get to make the rules. She gets to follow them or she can lose the nice things that come along with said house. Like a door to her bedroom.