Normal Conflict between Spouses + Skid councelors
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Do your adult SKIDS ever chime in when you have minor disagreements with your spouse? Do they ever jump to the aid of DH and then turn on you? When they do this, do you ever suddenly feel like there has been a role reversal...they are the wife and you are the teen being lectured?
Mine do and it's pretty darn annoying! Glad I don't see them very often, but when I do I feel like I have to walk on egg shells around DH to avoid having conflict and the lovely results. My favorite part is when DH lets them do this. He is like an ostrich with his head in the sand...he doesn't seem to notice. Grrrrr....
Had to vent, and thanks for the listen.
We haven't gotten to that age
We haven't gotten to that age yet. I'm hoping DH shuts down that kind of behavior, but if he doesn't, I will be prepared for it.
All the time. SD19 tries to
All the time. SD19 tries to get attention by being the mini-wife and talking down to me like she's the adult. It's horribly disrespectful. She talks down to DH some, too, but he just stays mostly quiet. You know, so Princess can calm down.
See my post from yesterday under Teenage Stepchiildren "SD19 - I'm Walking on Eggshells." (1/18/15)
~ Moon
You are so right.
You are so right.
You shouldn't have your
You shouldn't have your disagreements/arguments in front of his kids or yours even if they are adults and if they are in private these disagreements should not be discussed with them. Problem solved.
For the record, I know you
For the record, I know you are not supposed to have conflict in front of your kids. Parenting 101. This is one of the things I fully respect in my own parents. They amaze me. I am talking about minor disagreements and opinion differences. The only way to avoid those is to always agree with your DH, even when you don't.
Is this the answer, and if so, how do you keep from blowing a gasket after stuffing it for so long?
Nope, not the answer IMHO.
Nope, not the answer IMHO. My parents kept a united front for the most part but if they had a disagreement the parent dealing with the kid issue at the time informed the other that when the issue had been addressed that it could be discussed in their room in private and not before.
My bride and I pretty much duplicated my mom and dad's philosophy.
Oh hell no!!!! Why do you for
Oh hell no!!!! Why do you for one microsecond tolerate this crap? :? :jawdrop: :sick: Were I you and the toxic prior relationship spawn pulled this shit in my home while my SO buried his head in the sand I would have all of them out on the curb quicker than they could possibly comprehend.
The kids would be propelled out the door by their steaming hot rosey red asses that I had just lit up with a paddle and their dear daddy would be ball-less because I would have harvested his giggle berries and fed them to the dog as I tossed him out with his spawn.
Fortunately my SKid knew better than to get that lippy with either his mom or I because neither of us would tolerate it. On a couple of occassion my bride climbed the Skid's ass about speaking her her husband with respect as did I about speaking to my bride with respect.
The kid got the picture.
Your Skids and DH need the same picture and the dog might need the meal.
Grrrrrrr!
OSD once thought she had a
OSD once thought she had a say in a fight that DH and I got into, in front of the skids. (hey it happens, we aren't perfect). She went on to trash me on FB and in texts. Later she said: If you can forgive me for the things I said about you, I will forgive you for being mean to my dad.
Ha!
I made it VERY clear that I dont need her forgiveness for the way I treat her father. That what goes on between her father and I is our business. That what she needs to do is mind her own business next time.
I would not allow this,
I would not allow this, either. Especially not from adult skids. We never ever disagree about anything of substance in front of the skids at the ages they are now.
But we can usually tell by telepathy if the other one is 'stuffing' something so we will usually maneuver to be alone together within minutes or even discreetly text each other to resolve the thing without them knowing there was any disagreement at all.
My SD would probably like to smother me in my sleep but she has pretty much figured out that she cannot pry us apart. She also knows she can't treat me like her stupid younger sibling because I will rise up like the goddess Athena and smite her with my shining power. She has experienced it. She tries it rarely now.
It's SO obvious that you are
It's SO obvious that you are just so rude at times!
You just come off as so holy
You just come off as so holy and hypocritical and judgemental. Its a public forum so of course you are entitled to your opinion. But you state your opinion and you follow it up with a rude comment about how YOU would never do that and YOU know so much better and YOU are so much wiser, smarter and better. I'll take a bet that IRL its the exact opposite about you
Every comment of yours to a post is followed up with an insult.
Oh come on... I know your
Oh come on... I know your tactic... try to insinuate something negative from the post, that applies to my life, to try and make me feel bad. Sorry, that isnt my normal, not even close.
"Sorry if you do and if that's your norm, but that's on you."
I hope that you and your family are happy and dont fight. I dont wish ill will on anyone.
No Echo your comments
No Echo your comments regarding my life didnt strike a nerve with me. You cant try to underhand insult me. You dont know me or my life and you are just some person on the internet who doesnt really matter.
What struck a nerve is that you make a comment regarding the post. I agree, adults shouldnt fight in front of kids or other people. But then you follow it up, as you ALWAYS do with some underhanded rude comment about how much better you are then the poster and whatever they posted. Its your M.O. 9/10 people on this board know it and dont like it.
Today, you struck a nerve. Normally I ignore your comments like that. Today I'm just thinking WTF... why cant people just freakin post and get real feedback without someone else trying to comment back and insult them? That is what struck a nerve. Your sarcastic attempts at being "honest". Step life is hard enough. People come to this board for support. Not for your comments at how AWESOME you are and HORRIBLE they are. And this isnt a projection or anything, its just me speaking up for the masses on this board.
Yes I started with you, which isnt fair or nice, so this will be my last comment to you on this.
She is not being rude. She's
She is not being rude. She's being honest.
They are adults. Regardless of the fact these are adult skids (or adult bio-kids in some situations, most people don't argue in front of other adults. Not only is it rude but it makes others uncomfortable.
And of course they are going to defend their parents. I would do the same damn thing. In fact I have defended both my Mom and Dad when another adult (my sister's BF) started an argument with them. I shut him down.
If you don't want to be lectured by other adults because you're arguing with your H in front of them, then do as Echo said. Don't argue in front of them.
Easy peasy.
Thanks for co signing on that
Thanks for co signing on that Shaman
Honesty is great! However Echo doesnt have to follow up with some nasty comment about how its SO obvious and most Normal people dont fight in front of other people, blah blah blah.... That's not being honest. It's being rude and using "I am just honest" as an excuse. It's SO obvious.
Well.... my DH and I never
Well.... my DH and I never have fights in front of the skids (or our bios), but we don't generally fight at all anyway. I'm actually a bit concerned about the way you put it - "minor disagreements and opinion differences". Could you maybe give an example? Because I would find it weird to have a conversation where you guys had different opinions and then expect other people in the room to stay out of the discussion. I'd also find it a bit odd to have a minor disagreement and NOT put anyone else in their place if they jumped in.
So... say you guys were discussing a movie. You loved it, DH hated it. That's an opinion difference. Who gives a crap if SD says she hated it too? That's her opinion. But I'm assuming you're talking about something more than that - an example would help clarify.
Or, let's say DH didn't take the trash out and you say, "You said you'd do that last night!" "No I didn't! I said I'd get to it!" That's a minor disagreement. If SD jumps in and says anything at all, you just say, "This is between me and my husband, SD. He's a grown man and probably doesn't appreciate his daughter feeling like he's too weak to deal with his own wife!" (That should shut BOTH of them up.)
To me, the proper answer in
To me, the proper answer in the example about the taking out the trash is BOTH of you turn to her say, "Oh, that's right, this one is to take it out! How could we forget?" That'll teach her to stay out of it. YMMV.
LOL! Love this! Probably
LOL! Love this! Probably the best response if it's a teen though, that should be the teen's job.
Yeah, that's a huge
Yeah, that's a huge qualitative difference. Children in in tact families are hoping their parents do work out the disagreement or are confident that they will.
Children in step families take delight in a marital disagreement and are hoping desperately it will mean stepparent soon disappears.
My sd15 has never seen us disagree over anything more than politics or watermelon (he hates it/I love it). We represent a solid monolith to her. She can not find the crack where she could start chipping. Doesn't exist, can't be done.
Parents married to each other might safely take a different tack but we are very committed to doing it this way in a stepfamily.
The fun comes in when your
The fun comes in when your torment the manipulitive little shits.
Try it. It is a lot of fun. }:)
Never fight in front of kids
Never fight in front of kids and others has been a reoccuring theme so I would like to add to this. First of all, I TOTALLY agree on this. A good parenting rule and I did comment on this, above. I was not talking about a knock down drag out fight. I was talking about a minor disagreement and we ALL have those. Always agreeing with your spouse... that just doesn't sound like the real world but maybe I am missing something.
I love what sandye21 said about "grouping up"...that really explained how our situation plays out. SD24 jumps right over to daddeee on anything. Sometimes I feel like she is just lurking in the background, waiting for the opportunity to align with him so she can mommy down to me and show little me the "right way to think" according to her and daddee...
Anyway, thank you everyone for your replies. Some really good ones up there and everyone's opinion counts and has value.
That's exactly what she's
That's exactly what she's doing, no ifs, ands, or buts. Huge payoff for her.
If it's really just the small stuff (McDonald's? or Burger King?) talk to your dh about it privately. Tell him you understand her joy in showing her loyalty to you and you understand it probably feels pretty good to him, too, but that for you it starts to feel like a game of playground shunning. Ask him for his help to feel better. Ask if the two of you can develop a way that he can reach out to you during those moments so you can feel part of the team again. He doesn't have to agree with you, but he can find some way to make you feel not ganged up or not excluded. It can be a secret sign, or a little love text sent from under the table, or maybe he soon deliberately turns the conversation to something he knows the kid can't possibly agree on but the two of you do.
Good luck with this.