Manipulative bio grandmother
My step daughter is a wonderful 9 year old girl. Since we have gotten married and moved into a nicer neighborhood she has loved coming to visit. She comes every weekend. She has begun wanting to stay both nights, but her grandmother makes her feel bad. Last weekend was the worst. She convinced her not to stay for Father's Day b/c there was a cousin coming to visit. After my stepdaughter got to our house on Friday she started telling me that Father's Day was just not a big deal b/c they don't carry you for 9 months and they realy don't care. I told her that I felt fathers love their children just as much as mothers and Fathers Day is important too. Well, she ended up staying (thank goodness) and she had her grandmother on speaker phone the next morning and she was making her feel bad for staying and not coming home. How do we make this stop?
Try to have a talk with Bio G-ma
Tell her that things like SD leaving early should be discussed between the grownups. You have seen your SD feel bad and you want to find a way to make that stop. Tell BGma that SD was feeling bad after their phone call and you don't think she was doing it on purpose(even though it sounds like she was) and you or DH should talk to her instead. I really hope it works out because I hate when the adults make the kids feel like crap because they have insecurity issues...