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14 yr SD and her dad are driving me up the wall! Help!

stepmomjo's picture

Hi,

I am not sure if I am here for advise or just to get this whole thing off my chest. I have been living with a man for 3 years, at the time his daughter was 11, she stayed with us every other weekend (friday and saturdays only)since then the arrangment has changed that she is with us for 6 days out of every 14 days, I wasn't consulted about this, I was told and I am not sure if I would have said no but I would have liked to have been consulted. Moving on, that was then, this is now. To lay out the situation, I pay for 1/2 the rent and 1/2 the food for the household for 3 of us. In the past 6 months I have gotten to the point that I can't take it anymore. I feel like I am a slave to the two of them. They both come in, get onto their respectable phones and I am expected to figure out whats for dinner, cook dinner, clean up after dinner and also do all the other chores that come along with the house. A few months back I talked to my CL spouse about how I was feeling unappreciated and felt like a maid to the two of them. He said that things would change, so he decided to offer to give her an allowance to get her to contribute to the household chores. That worked for about a month, she slowly has slid back into doing nothing but being on her phone all the time and lazing around in her PJ's for the ENTIRE weekend. Never lifting a finger, or even getting dressed!(My mom would have kicked my butt if I wasn't dressed by noon). Now, she gets a $10 allowance and I am doing all the work! I mentioned to my CL spouse I wanted to sit down and speak to my SD about what is expected from her when she is here and how I am feeling about the situation. He said no. I don't want you to do that. I said thats fine, then step up and be a dad, not a friend to her (I have noticed that every now and then he will pick up after her, make her bed, do her dishes etc so I don't get mad but when I catch him doing these things it makes me even more mad, I don't understand what he thinks he is teaching her) So, she arrived on friday, after leaving a huge messy room the week prior when she had been at our house. He asked her to clean her room, she didn't do it, saturday comes and goes with a couple of mentions of the room, still not done, by Sunday evening I was at my whits end and I asked him, can you please get on her to clean her room (there is garbage, sheets that haven't been washed in months on her bed, dirty dishes etc) he turned around and screamed in my face "GET OFF MY BACK! I HAVE ASKED HER TO DO IT ALREADY" I have basically shut down now. SD is missing lots and lots of school assignments (to the point of not even getting a grade in certain subjects due to the missing assignments. Yet, she never has homework. I asked him when these assignments are to get done if she isn't bringing her school stuff home to do them. He said (and I swear I almost laughed in his face, almost) "I asked her to bring her books home and she said she doesn't want to, so I can't do anything about that"
I feel like I am living a nightmare, prior to living with the 2 of them I had lived alone for over 10 years. I am not sure if its just me because I was so used to being on my own and if it was my mess I cleaned it up, I didn't have to worry about finding hidden dirty dishes shoved under the couch or cheese that she didn't finish stuck in a trinket in the house. I don't see any way out and I dont see how things can get better or change because they don't. They never do. I am so frustrated and because he has told me more than once not to approach the precious princess with issues I have with her that I end up just losing my shit in the end and screaming my head off at both of them which just makes me feel like a crazy lunatic and then I feel guilty. I think thats it for now. I give up. The two of them will be here in a couple of hours and I can feel my anxiety rising already. If anyone has any suggestions or even an "I understand what you are going through" it would really help.

thanks for listening.

Stormyweather's picture

I can totally relate as this happened to me too. And we were married but I wasn't being treated like a wife.. An equal partner who has a say in what goes on in the house. No amount of talking would solve anything as my DH was too busy protecting his son and adult child from any inconvenience and meanwhile they were allowed to do what ever they wanted in MY home.

So I asked them to leave and started divorce proceedings. I even told my DH to marry SD21 as she is being treated more like a wife than I was. The only way to get change happening is to insist on your boundaries being honored which unfortunately is normally drastic! So be it!! Surely it's better than being treated like a maid who gives blow jobs! Have a higher standard for yourself as otherwise unless you insist on being treated with respect he will continue to put you last. Men don't respect what who they can easily boss around. Stand up for yourself and follow through should you need to.

I was lucky I guess as the house was mine and I'm more than happy to live without their toxic dysfunction! That coupled with the fact I'm a confident, attractive and popular 50 year old woman who has so much to offer and my DH knows this and is scared to lose me to some up and coming man who comes my way... Lol!! I let him think that but I am totally over wanting a relationship as to me.. All men are such hard work and have so much baggage in our age groups! I would more than likely sell up and travel for 5 years!!

Good luck and put yourself first as your DH isn't. How dare he not have any concern for you and your partnership and expect you to be the maid. Don't let him keep treating you like that because don't forget.. You are allowing him to treat you like it.

notasm3's picture

Nobody tells me who I can "approach" about a problem. You have the right to go bat shit crazy on all of them about their sh**** ways.

Why be passive and accepting of horrible behavior?

Aeron's picture

Well, I guess if you truly can't see a way out of the relationship, your way out is to disengage. Just stop doing what you're doing. Stop caring at all about her grades. If her sucks, close the door. Why do you care if she sleeps on clean sheets? She's 14, she can change her own sheets if she cares and if she doesn't and her doesn't, why do you? Retrieve all your dishes, wash them and pack them up. Replace with disposable. Stop cooking for them! She's 14, he's a damn adult, who gives a flying squirrel what they expect? Make your own food, do Your laundry, clean what you absolutely feel like cleaning and then just stop.

Tell him since you can't approach precious about any issues he needs to start paying 2/3 of everything. She's not your kid, you have apparently zero frigging rights, why are you subsidizing the mistreatment? I want to know why you see no way out since you sent married but regardless, a big part of the issue here seems to be that you feel you have to meet this guy's expectations of you while he is in no way required to do the same. Why are you allowing the double standard?

New_to_this's picture

I understand what you are going through. When I met DH, he had the kids 50/50, but now we have the kids full-time. I had paid 1/2 of all the household stuff (rent, food, utilities) for kids who wasted water and food regularly. I implemented an allowance system to get them to stop whining when we went to the store and to get them to start doing chores, but, like you, that backfired. And DH though would sometimes listen to me was also very protective and defensive, which caused me to shut down and not want to talk to him anymore about the kids.

It drove my insane and it continues to this day, but less so. I think about leaving the situation a lot but I now have DS, and it's much harder to leave. These are some things that have changed over the years to help. DH is responsible for making sure chores get done, whether the kids do them or he does it for them. DH pays more than 1/2 but less than 2/3 of the household, which makes me feel better. I disengaged. After repeatedly dealing with a defensive DH when I discussed his SS with him, I just stopped saying anything. He knows that I parent well, so my disengagement was a huge blow to him. He started having a lot more problems dealing with SS and didn't know how to solve them or wanted my input, but I stopped providing it. SS became such a nuisance to him that it finally clicked and he became less defensive and started dealing with SS's issues. I, in turn, because he was no longer defensive, give him advice about SS. I still get extremely frustrated with living with the stepkids, but I can deal with it better now. There are more boundaries and DH finally wised up.

stepinafrica's picture

Since you are not married anyway you can just walk out of the relationship. Tell him that the relationship is not really working out the way you expected and that you need some space.

Even better yet, tell him that it is your fault you just can't accept his child and you would never want to get in between the two of them. (Total bullshit but you are telling him what he wants to hear = no arguments).

hereiam's picture

I don't see any way out

Really? You don't?

You don't have to put up with this, you just don't. You can stop doing anything for them or you can get your own place.

You pay your share of the bills, you get a say in how the household is run. If your BF does not agree, get yourself a different household. Or make them get one, whichever applies best to your situation.

I just couldn't, and wouldn't, live in a home that causes me that much anxiety. To me, that is not a home.

Cover1W's picture

The others have pretty much covered it.
If you are this far along you have really one choice right now.
Do you want to stay in the relationship?

That answer will determine how you move forward and what advice you seek.