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Why am I so grossed out by my skids

LiveesMom's picture

I am a biomom of one girl 15 months and SM of 2 girls 6 and 8. They come to our house every other weekend for a visit. During the few days leading up to a visit I can feel a dread come over me. I start feeling edgy and irritated. I hate to say it but I just don't like my skids. The older, 8 year old, has the attitude of a 20 something valley girl. If any kind of punishment is used on this girl, even just a firm vioce, it's eye rolling, foot stomping, crossed arms, and mega talk back. The younger, 6 year old, has selective hearing to the worst degree. I will ask her to do something very simple like, "please stop jumping off your bed it is very loud and the baby is asleep in the next room." She will look at me, shake her head yes, and moments later I hear BOOM, she's jumped off the bed again. The kicker is, when I go into the room to scold her for not behaving, she cuts me off mid-sentence asking something like, "can I go outside and play?", or "can I have some ice cream?". THE NERVE OF THESE KIDS!!!! But to my problem, ya believe it or not that's not my real problem. My problem is that I am grossed out by them. VERY grossed out. When they are around I have to force myself to hug or kiss them and forget cuddling or anything of that sort. But I have no problem being affectionate to my BD. For example, they are over at my house this weekend. They arrived filthy (as usual). So I gave them a bath. They were in the tub for about an hour when I cracked the door open to tell them it was time to get out. As I was closing the door I heard older SD ask if I would wash their hair. Repulsed, I shut the door quickly and acted as though I didn't hear her. There was NO WAY I was touching their heads. I don't even like to see them hugging and kissing my bio or even my SO, WHO IS THEIR FATHER!! Whats wrong with me. I just cringe at the idea of them having any contact with us. Now don't get me wrong, I am in no way a mean, evil, stepmother to these girls. Im actually very good to them. They genuinely love me. I do arts and crafts, origami, play with dolls, etc, with them. But, it is all so forced! I can't seem to love them back, or even like them. I think it's a combination of the behavioral issues and the hygiene (by the way the tub literally had a thick, dark, dirt ring in it after they got out of it, eeeewww)I need to know if anyone is in my situation. I want to know if anyone else can't seem to bond with their skids. Or if anyone else is grossed out by their skid/s. I feel so horrible that I can't even like them and that all the emotion that I show them is completely fake and forced. And what's worse is I know that they really care about me.
P.S Please don't reem me a new one for saying what I have I am just looking for support and guidance.

janeyc's picture

They do sound like a pair or little madams, if they were better behaved no doubt you would'nt dislike them as much, the hygiene issue is'nt their fault or the behavior, BM needs to step up, what does your partner do when they are rude? I know its hard, my sd6 is eating her dinner at the moment, I constantly have to remind her to eat with her mouth shut, all I can hear is chomping and slurping "yuck", sometimes she's lovely sometimes she drives me crazy and I want to run away, I think Im the only one who teaches her manners.

LiveesMom's picture

Unfortunately, my SO is a 3rd shift worker so I do nearly all of the care for them while they are at our house. So when SD8 gets her attitude, I have to address it. SO is much harder on her about it than I am however. I try to reason with her and I ask her why she gets so upset over something so insignificant. She just cant answer me. She is one of 5 children in her BMs house so she doesn't get a lot of correcting when she's not with us. Also, they are only in our home 2 weekends a month so any correcting I do goes out the window within days of them returning to BM and the attitude is back when she comes to our home for her next visit.

janeyc's picture

Well when I was a kid, rules were different in different houses, friends/family houses, a child is easily clever enough and adaptible enough to deal with this, you keep sticking to the house rules and they will get it, at least your partner disciplines them, mine is as soft as, well I'd better not say it, remind them when they arrive about the house rules and remind them what the consequences will be if they break them, then there is no excuse for bad behaviour.

Orange County Ca's picture

You don't have to like your step kids but there is no reason to live this way. See a counselor who within 2 months should have you understanding why you feel this way and have given you a ton of methods to bring yourself around.

Don't expect to make changes in these kids. You have them 2 of 14 days and no one can expect to have any effect on them with that little time to work. Step back and re-evaluate your role in their lives and let Dad do most of the work. You relegate yourself to background duties such as meal preparation. I.e. things that effect the whole family not just them.

Then disconnect - here's what I did.

I wrote this a long time ago and I hope this helps with your problem. It may not reflect your exact situation but you'll get the idea:
The situation with my step-kids finally got to the point where I decided that my efforts to raise them was futile.
First I told my wife in private what I was going to do and why.
Then I stopped investing myself, time and money in their upbringing. I realized that by conscious choice I could cease being responsible for them or their actions. Neither would I take credit for how they turned out, good or bad. I simply stopped interfering in their lives. This is not to say if they would start a fire on the living room floor I would not intervene. But if they did not do the laundry as scheduled I ignored it. Nor did I do any of their chores. If the trash overflowed in the kitchen - well tough. Mom dealt with it when she got home.
You will be absolutely amazed at the look on a kids face when s/he realizes you don't care enough to even tell their bio-parent they did something wrong. And you'll be amazed at their future behavoir and attitude towards you.
I stayed friendly enough and taught one how to drive when she was old enough. But they could no longer blame me for the consequences of misbehaving just because I saw the misbehavoir. I never told. If they were caught in a infraction it was not my fault. They began to realize that they were responsible for their actions because of what they did not because I caught them.
I would talk to my wife in private if I had issues, but once she made the decision I backed her up 100%.
Once the kids realized I was no longer the ogre they thought I was their attitude changed. I was not their friend, but neither was I the enemy. They came to realize that I had not done those things to irritate them. They in fact missed the things that they had come to depend on me doing. Permission to go to the mall when their Mom was not home? "Sorry, can't do that".
Their mother slowly came to realize that I wasn't overreacting to their actions. In fact I wasn't reacting at all. She came to understand that she would have to control the situation and she did.
With that things got much easier around the house.
Billions of kids grew up in the world without help from me and turned out just fine.

Julies's picture

Interesting posts and very honest with your feelings about not being able to love your step kids. I just started another thread about "LOVE" under General which I think is the real issue for many troubled souls and families. The first step towards addressing a problem is realizing what it is, and so at least the step mom who started this thread realizes what the problem is, changing her feelings about the kids is the next hard part.

Poodle's picture

I'd say get them cleaned up as soon as they step into your place as that will make you feel a whole heap better from the start. You can't have lack of hygiene around your baby. I know you would probably be more minded to disengage, and Sparents including me have found this really works. But, seems to me it's possibly in your circumstances a good idea for an adult to stay engaged at this stage enough to clean their hair. They aren't with you much but if their hair is never washed, they really will not know how to do it at this age. It really might pay off to supervise them and show or tell them how to approach it with lashings of shampoo and so forth. Then at least, when that is thoroughly done, first the hair might have a chance of being a bit cleaner the next time you see them plus you set up a routine of its being expected that they do themselves up the minute they step through your door.

Sarah_V's picture

Unfortunately, the kids' rotten behavior is because of their parents, including your SO. I understand your anger at the children, but he's the one responsible in the end. If he tolerates that sort of thing, there's no way you putting your foot down will do ANYTHING but establish you as "the enemy" and "the problem." I have no doubts you would feel closer to them if they were more respectful to you. And this is something that can only come from your SO.

It is crap city, but part of the deal of being the SM is that you can't lead the charge on discipline. I mean, you can, but the kids will just think there's something wrong with YOU, while they and their father are just fine. Even if you gave up your entire life to clean up after them and make sure they don't eat nothing but cheese puffs because their dad is always working, they will still grow up, go to therapy and complain about what an evil witch you were (after making your life miserable for a decade or two).

If you're going to be such a primary caregiver, you and your SO have to get on the same page in terms of what acceptable behavior is, what the consequences for inappropriate behavior will be, etc. And ideally, he will be the one who dishes it out, not you. I personally found myself panicked the first time a child development specialist told me this (my SO and I had so many problems with SD, we went to a therapist to try and fix our home--starting with getting an understanding of how kids my SD's age think (she's 9) and how to blend a family more peacefully). But these days I see it as a relief. She makes a huge mess, I leave it for her father to deal with. She gets way out of line, I file it away, tell him when he gets home, and he backs me up. In my case, it's really helping. I am there to assist, but I am not there to raise her: that is her father's job. I used to feel bad about leaving a mess for him to clean up after a long day's work, but now I don't. It's the only thing that makes him deal with it, and that's the only thing she responds to.

I have also drawn the line on how much of a child care solution I'm going to be. I am not the insta-sitter and I don't want to be. ESPECIALLY when she's not behaving well, he does not pressure me to spend tons of time alone with her and care for her. I am very lucky that he doesn't need me to -- I agreed to settle with them in the town where she's lived most of her life, so there is a network of friends and family to lean on. Again, initially I thought living there instead of where I wanted to was some big sacrifice. But when I see the freedom it actually makes possible for me in the end, I'm happy we did it. Of course I help, all the time, and clean up after her plenty, and all of that. But I'm not left on my own to convince her that even though she only met me a few years ago, she should respect me as a second mother (that's just not how it works).

Boundaries are so important. If you get too upset, then yes, you have to disengage. Don't let anyone make you feel like a bad person for it (these asses typically have NO idea what it's like to step-parent: tons of pressure to participate and make sacrifices as if they were your own kids, but actually zero authority in the end about anything because those kids will always come first for your SO) and don't let YOU think of yourself as a bad person. You chose your SO and he chose you for each other, not because you were in love with each other's children. That's fine. Now you have to find a way to be together that doesn't make you resent him. As soon as that starts...it's over. Even if you never go anywhere.

LiveesMom's picture

Thanks for all of the feedback everyone. Some of it was very helpful, especially the parts about disengaging the children. I did something like that at one point. Because my SO works 3rd shift I simply cannot ask him to do more than he is. He gets home around 6 am and sleeps till about 2 or 3pm (he works 12 hr shifts). So he spends about 6 hours a day with them and its in the evening when they are loosing steam and starting to calm down. As far as being on the same page with how to deal with disciplinary issues, SO and I are completely in sync. If I decide on a course of action he backs me completely.I am actually the final say in disciplinary issues. And the skids dont mind. They dont disrespect me any more than they do anyone else. The attitude sk8 has with me is the same attitude she has with her dad, BM, anyone. She actually tells BM that she hates her and that BM ruined her life! So im not weeded out and "picked on" because im SM, these kids are just that way. They just have no structure. I just cant seem to get through to my skids that what is acceptable at their BMs is not acceptable at our house. I tried last summer to keep them for a week at a time every other week. So BM had them 50% and I 50% thinking that spending more time with them and using some consistency in consequences would help resolve some behavioral issues, at least while in my home. DID NOT WORK!!!! I just completely lost my mind and ended up withdrawing myself from them for some time. I think a key issue here is that there is no structure or consequences for behavior or actions at BMs house so they carry that school of thought to my home. It just makes for a miserable weekend for sure.
As far as their hygiene, BM moves the family of 5 2x or more a year. The poor kids cant so much as land their feet in a new neighborhood before they are packing up and moving again. SK8 told me, 2 months after BM moved them to yet another new place, that BM had yet to unpack their tooth brushes and tooth paste. 2 MONTHS!!! They always come over in dirty stained clothes, ratty hair, and smelling awful. I have to tell them both to wash hands, brush teeth, even tell them when to change their underwear. They would wear the same thing the whole weekend if I let them. Now I see this as mostly the BMs fault, but at 8 yrs old shouldn't she know to change clothes and wash daily without an adult instructing her to do so?
All in all, I could deal with the hygiene issues if they just started acting like normal 6 and 8 yr olds. I think part of me being grossed out by them is not just the hygiene. I think its a combination of the poor hygiene and poor behavior. Any tips on trying to create a little structure for the small amount of time that I do have them so my house isnt a nightmare?!!!

janeyc's picture

The thing is kids are gross, when you are their parent its easier to put up with, when you arn't its much harder, I feel sorry for these kids, if the mother can't even keep them clean what else isn't she doing?

sterlingsilver's picture

At times I cannot believe how when a father's children come for a weekend visit he can still go off to work and let his SO care for his kids. For awhile I only had eow visits with my boys until I fought and won full custody, and there was never once that I left my boys in my bf's care. I wouldn't have ever expected for him to care for my kids. Now of course there are times when I have to work or go groc shopping or just out for awhile and my kids stay here at home but before I never did that. Now my ss18 has moved back into our home temporarily and when SO goes to work ss18 either goes to a friend's or with his dad to work b/c I will not have him in my home without SO to watch him b/c he is a little liar and thief.

Ok, now with that rant out of the way, why do you think it's your job to care for your DH's brats?? He should bathe them and wash their hair as soon as they walk in, and then cook their meals and so on. If he has to work then you should put your foot down and say if he has to work on their weekend he needs to have them another time or take time off work b/c you are not his brat sitter.

Why do us wives and girlfriends get dumped with our step kids when clearly we don't want to raise them and we most likely don't like or love them? That in itself makes us like them even less; babysitting for free causes lots of resentments.

LiveesMom's picture

Thanks for your comment, it made me laugh a little. In a good way! I did at first refuse to watch skids when SO wasn't home. At that time I was working and contributing to the household. But a little over 2 yrs ago, I got pregnant and SO and I decided that I would stay at home with our baby until I felt comfortable going back to work. Since I am now a stay at home mom and don't financially contribute, he in turn has to take on more hours. So I feel not quite obligated, but like it's the right thing to do to get the skids on Friday evening so they are there when he gets up the next afternoon so he can spend the most time with them possible. He does get them out of my house for a couple hours on Saturdays (we have them every other wknd from 8pm Fri- 4pm Sun) He takes them to chuck e cheese or a park or something. I just flat out told him he had to. SO is very aware of the way I feel about his kids. I'm not downright mean to his face about it, but I make it very clear that I don't much care for them and if I have to take on the burden of being their primary care provider when they are here then he MUST get them out of my hair for a couple hours during the day on Saturday's and get them home before he goes to work Sunday. The couple of hours alone with BD are nice because it gives me and my BD time to reconnect (the skids get her all frazzled too). There are some perks to taking care of them, he has a higher respect for me, and never questions or overrides any decisions I make in disciplining the skids and that in itself makes it much easier. I hear stories of poor SMs on here that are expected to keep after the skids while SO isn't there but aren't allowed to so much as use a firm tone with the skids and is confronted for using discipline. My skids BM even condones my disciplinary choices for her kids. She probably doesn't give a damn anyway, but having complete support makes it a little less gut wrenching.

dledden's picture

don't feel bad, i'm grossed out by my stepkid too....his ability for self-care is about that of a 2 yr old, he's almost 9. if i'm drinking water or something out of a water bottle and he asks for some, i give it to him and there is no way in HELL i'm drinking out of it after his mouth has been on it. he can't wipe his ass and all of his underwear that i have to wash are full of shitstains, NASTY. I truly skeeve him, so you are not the only one!!!

LiveesMom's picture

Thank goodness it's not just me. I actually cringe when the youngest one comes in for a kiss because she doesn't want to kiss me on the cheek nooooo, she wants to kiss my lips and both of their mouths are always raw and chapped for some reason and I saw SD6 eating snot one time. So eeewww, I def don't wanna kiss her but can't bring myself to be cruel enough to turn her away. Another time while cleaning house, I saw something on my wall that looked like smeared booger. So I began looking at all of my walls and noticed that there were smeared snot and boogers in several spots on several of my walls. I figured out who the culprit was when I went into their bedroom and examined the walls by there beds more closely. The wall by SK6s bed was riddled with snot and boogers! I was SOOOOO disgusted. I grabbed an old sponge SK6, and anti-bacterial cleaner and made her go through my house and clean all that nasty sh*# off my walls! WHO DOES THIS???? I remember being 6, I remember doing some less than hygenic things, but I never smeared f*&$%#@ snot all over the house!!!!!

janeyc's picture

You know I think they may have impetigo, its not unusual for a child to pick this up, but its very infectious and it can scar and get much worse, as for boogers I caught my sd red handed the other day, about to wipe a huge one on my rug, I encourage her to always carry a tissue, it is gross and its something that bm should have taught them not to do.

Poodle's picture

These girls are being subjected to chronic neglect by BM. This is a child protection issue. IMO they ought not to live with her for any stretch, period. She needs very serious professional help. You will get nowhere trying to pick up the slack from this -- nor will anyone. Protective services need to be involved. Neglect this serious will undoubtedly include emotional abuse if not worse.
Going back to your household, you MUST NOT pick up the slack because you will be accused of neglect too. DH must sort this out when he gets in and he must sleep in mini-shifts to do so. My DH works nights. I know this problem well. Do not take up the slack because he must get to feel so desperate that he does something to ensure BM gets help or loses care.
Regarding them needing this much help dressing and cleaning, no you are wrong that they can achieve this at this age IMO, I have seen neglected children in my work and they most certainly do not know how to self-care at this age because they have not consistently been shown how to by a primary carer. Accordingly, they will carry on self-neglecting until taken out of BM's care. This situation for them will only get worse. IMHO carers have to regard this as a compassion rather than a disciplinary issue and teach them patiently and consistently without getting angry.
I think this situation is riding for a big fall and you should give DH a wakeup call. This problem is getting bigger than one person or even two caring for the girls, can handle.

Poodle's picture

I have just read the stuff about boogers and apparently sores on their lips. They are going to give your child infections, your SO really does need to look at whether it is right for them to remain living with BM.

LiveesMom's picture

It's not actually sores on their mouths, and most often it's just the older one. It's more like what happens to your lips and outer mouth when you go out in the cold and continuously lick your mouth and lips. It's like chapped lips to the umpteenth degree. It's awful. I have lost count of how many times I have sent sd8 home with medicated chapstick. She comes back next visit with the same raw, chapped mouth and doesn't even know where the chapstick is. It's a waste of my money. And there's no sense mentioning it to BM because I know she sees it! Its a huge red, crusty ring around the kids mouth! As far as the hygiene, I do bathe them as soon as they get to my house, I just hate washing their hair when they get there because they usually can't tell me when their last bath was and I don't know what they've been doing and what lurks in those mops! But I most definately DO NOT let them physically interact with my BD until a thorough bathing has happened. As far as Fluffys comment on possibly contacting CPS and getting the children removed from BMs home. I don't really want to do that because the first door that CPS will knock on to take the children in is mine. And I hate to say this, but I will NOT raise that womans kids because she is a negligent waste of space. Did I forget to mention that my SO gives her nearly $800 a month in child support. Ya, and the skids always come over in nasty clothes and shoes with the soles peeling off. Not only does BM get child support from him, she receives government assistance and food stamps, but she also works (tax free) as a waitress at an upscale gentelmens club and Ive even heard her talk about making several hundred dollars in one night. Why in the hell do these kids look like this if your making over a thousand dollars a week??????????????????????????? And im supposed to pick up the slack because you refuse to be a half decent human being and wash your kids ass every once in a while. HELL NO!!!
My anger is not directed at you Fluffy, I just get really erked at that woman. I have been through the whole "hey, you should get custody of the girls" conversation with my SOs family, and they didn't say so, but I know they think i'm a wretched bitch for saying no to them. My BD is my only child and I didn't have her until I was thirty years old because I wanted to wait until I was ready to fully dedicate my life and myself to her. If I take in two other girls than that just defeats my idea of devoting my entire self to her and I just feel that it's just not fair to BD for her to have to share me like that.

LiveesMom's picture

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