I desperately need some advice, I’ve got no clue what I’m doing...
For some context; I recently moved in with a guy I’ve known for about 12 years and his two young girls (5 nearly 6, and 7) and as terrifying as it was at first I’m really loving it, and I love them hugely and they often tell me they love me which is frankly magical to me
However, I don’t have any children myself and apart from some mixed work in schools (teaching assistant for children with learning disabilities) I have little experience of actually dealing with children..
So to get to the point; I get on with the older girl quite brilliantly but the younger one I’m struggling with.. She’s very contrary and..bossy, I suppose.. For example, she demands her hair gets done a certain way in the morning before school (even though she doesn’t like people touching her hair and just complains constantly); if you offer her several different choices of spread to go on toast she’ll pick the only one you didn’t mention even if she doesn’t really like it; if she’s being a faff in the morning and doesn’t have time to spend 10 minutes choosing between her identical white vests then that can be a complete meltdown... You get the idea.
I don’t know, I try to keep reminding myself that she’s not even quite 6 yet but she’s been really pushing her limits recently, and as much as love him for it their dad is quite soft with her when she acts up.. She throws these fits about wanting to get her own way, and in the end she still always gets her own way.
I appreciate your first thought might just be along the lines of ‘it’s not your place, leave him to it’ but I know he appreciates me being around and trying my best, at the end of the day neither of us know what we’re doing I guess.
So please tell me if you’ve experienced something like this, and if you have any thoughts for managing things. Thank you all in advance
Please or to access all these features
Please
or
to access all these features
Connect with other Mumsnetters here for step-parenting advice.
Step-parenting
Thrown myself in at the deep end
30 replies
FlummoxedPixie · 12/01/2020 20:49
OP posts:
hotstepper4 ·
13/01/2020 19:37
This reply has been deleted
Message deleted by MNHQ. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.
Don’t want to miss threads like this?
Weekly
Sign up to our weekly round up and get all the best threads sent straight to your inbox!
Log in to update your newsletter preferences.
You've subscribed!
Please create an account
To comment on this thread you need to create a Mumsnet account.