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For struggling to accept this horrible situation with SK

138 replies

MangaMoo · 14/09/2025 11:40

Posting on AIBU for traffic. Long one sorry.

Ok so trying to keep a long story short here but me and DP have a very complicated situation. He has DD13 and DD12 and I have DS7. We also have an “ours” DS who is 6 months old. His DD’s raised a malicious allegation about my DS7 which BM raised to SS and so we cannot risk the kids being around each other for safeguarding reasons. I need to protect my DS from further allegations and BM has made many false allegations about DP to police, SS etc and so this is a pattern and so we both want to protect the kids as much as possible. All of them. So DP stays at his parents house when he has his DD EOW and then takes them out one night each week. That was the best compromise we could do to ensure all have a relationship with DP but the kids do not mix. We were advised to do this by SS but also agree this is wisest. So many more complications but trying to keep a long story short.

However, my issue that I am struggling with coming to terms with this situation and my feelings about my SD’s.

Part of me wants a way we can go back to the mostly happy and very normal blended family situation that we used to have and were trying to build on. Part of me just wants to keep my kids safe. Part of me is very hurt by the nastiness from my SDs towards my DS as I heard them being very nasty and name calling when they were on the phone to my DP just after they made the allegations. Largely putting on a show for BM and their older siblings at her house I know, but still very hurtful to listen to.

I do try and support my DP as they are his DDs I know and so I send small gifts for them etc from time to time, suggest nice places for him to take them etc. But then sometimes I feel guilty and disloyal to my own son for doing so. And then I remind myself they are just kids too and massively influenced by a very toxic and bitter BM who also has MH struggles so it must be a very difficult situation for them too in many ways.

I don’t know what I want for this post except maybe thoughts on best ways to handle this situation and any suggestions to maybe come to terms with the mess that it is. It is not what I wanted at all but neither me nor DP would feel safe with all the kids being together even our baby as we both fully believe that due to BMs history it would only be a matter of time before he was dragged in to her circus too.

Any advice appreciated.
😢

OP posts:
MrsCarson · 14/09/2025 14:39

Stop beating yourself up over his ex making malicious reports, keep your children safe and don't go near them. I bet they are grilled after the visits as to who they have been with or seen, so make sure to stay clear.
My worry would be that eventually the ex will lose the plot and the kids will end up with their father full time, it would turn your home upside down and I don't think will be a happy little family as they have been coached by the mother to be nasty.
You may want to think about what you and your children will do if that happened.

SallySuperTrooper · 14/09/2025 14:33

TonTonMacoute · 14/09/2025 14:28

They may be the unwitting instruments of a troubled and trouble making BM, but you will be doing them a favour by instilling in them now the knowledge that making false accusatIons is not the way to behave.

Agree, and would stop with the buying presents, their mum could easily twist that bribery and coercion.

DoubleRainbow3 · 14/09/2025 14:32

I would be glad they are nowhere near my child, and would insist on the set up you have, and demand it stays that way and keep them away from both my children !
Putting you own children first is to keep them away from them and stop worrying about lovely blended family.
This works better for you and in time it will be them who are unhappy with the set up.
They'll prob want to come less now as they get older anyway.

Netcurtainnelly · 14/09/2025 14:30

Amba1998 · 14/09/2025 12:54

Having read your updates I feel incredibly sorry for the step kids. Left with a mother who assaults them and has mental health issues and a dad who went off to create a new family and only bothers EOW and once a week for tea. He hasn’t stepped up for them. How you moved this guy in and had a baby with him is beyond me

Absolutely, what a mess, why do people keep having kids all the time. It's so sad for them.

TonTonMacoute · 14/09/2025 14:28

They may be the unwitting instruments of a troubled and trouble making BM, but you will be doing them a favour by instilling in them now the knowledge that making false accusatIons is not the way to behave.

Gardendiary · 14/09/2025 14:27

Sunshineandgrapefruit · 14/09/2025 11:52

Your DH should try and get his daughter's into counselling. Get to the bottom of it. If your ds did nothing then this has not come from nowhere. It may be that another family member is responsible. They are all children and this needs to be taken seriously.

Edited

I think this is very wise and whilst I would definitely be keeping them separate to ds it might be helpful to reframe it to bear in mind that they are children too, who are probably being manipulated and in an emotionally charged and difficult situation that they haven’t got the maturity or skills to navigate.

VictoriaEra · 14/09/2025 14:20

InMyShowgirlEra · 14/09/2025 12:45

They are standard acronyms used on Mumsnet. BM is Biomum, i.e. not the stepmum. SK is stepkid; SD is stepdaughter and SS is stepson.

Shouldn't it just be Mum rather than biomum?

SunriseOver · 14/09/2025 14:19

blubberyboo · 14/09/2025 13:49

Its more likely that the next 5 or 6 year could prove the most difficult. When they start falling out with the birth mother and suddenly find themselves homeless at 16 or 17.

OP both SDs have 2 parents looking out for them.

Your DS only has you. He must be your priority even over your relationship. Keep them well at arms length from you and your kids. Stop buying them presents as that gives a poor message to your son. Your DP can buy them presents from him so they won't miss out.

Its very sad they won't have a relationship with their HB but given the 12 year age gap thats neither here nor there.

The birth mother?

These aren't adopted children, they're children who live with their mother.

The OP isn't their step mother; the girls are her partner's children who don't live with her.

The girls are also almost certainly being abused or exposed to age inappropriate sexual content somewhere, whether at their own (mother's) house, at the OP's house or somewhere else. Does their mother have a boyfriend/partner/husband? Are there other older boys living in their main home amongst the older siblings (and maybe there are more "blended" pseudo-step siblings /relatives/ children of mother's partner) referred to?

Viviennemary · 14/09/2025 14:18

Stop contact with those two girls immediately. Your DP must see them on his own. You don't need that in your life.

Worriedalltheday · 14/09/2025 13:56

You don’t have to accept these kids. They really are no relation to you and your priority should be your kids. There’s no way I would have anything to do with them, especially not buying them gifts!!
I would even go as far as walking away from this relationship as it just sounds like a lifetime of misery and issues down the line. After some time passes your dp will start downplaying what they actually did, and you both will start resenting each other as he ‘forgets’ and your poor ds will bear the brunt again.

blubberyboo · 14/09/2025 13:49

InMyShowgirlEra · 14/09/2025 12:43

You have nothing to feel guilty for.

Sadly, the SD's have nuked their own chances of a good relationship with their stepfamily and half sibling- this was their choice, not yours, and you owe them nothing. It's also not your fault, or your children's fault, that this means their Dad is having to be away from them EOW and one day weekly.

The best you can hope for is that as they get older they'll be less interested in going out with Dad every week and contact will reduce. It's less than 6 years until the youngest is officially an adult.

Its more likely that the next 5 or 6 year could prove the most difficult. When they start falling out with the birth mother and suddenly find themselves homeless at 16 or 17.

OP both SDs have 2 parents looking out for them.

Your DS only has you. He must be your priority even over your relationship. Keep them well at arms length from you and your kids. Stop buying them presents as that gives a poor message to your son. Your DP can buy them presents from him so they won't miss out.

Its very sad they won't have a relationship with their HB but given the 12 year age gap thats neither here nor there.

Futurehappiness · 14/09/2025 13:41

Facecloth · 14/09/2025 12:32

I mean this kindly, but do not add more children to this mess.
It is a mess.
Your son doesn't deserve to have his childhood marred by your choice of new partner.

I really would be rethinking this relationship completely if there is ANY suggestion of those children being in your home ever again.

Again, meant kindly, if you have children already, and then you get into a relationship with a man with a toxic Ex, you are always putting your existing child at risk.
Your have put your wish for a relationship with this man, ahead of what is best for your existing child.
You have brought this toxicity into your childs life.

I mean it kindly, but it is a rare women who is so boundaried that can keep it separate.

You have left your child down badly by bringing him into this situation.

Keep reminding yourself of that when you start feeling sympathy for children that are not yours.

Your son deserves to be your priority completely.
This toxicity has brought SS's into your home and son's life.

Focus on that.
Wishing you well.

This I am afraid. Your 'happy blended family situation' has turned out to be anything but; it suited you as one of the adults involved to believe it was happy, that's all. The children aren't happy though.

Although nothing can justify their making false accusations against an innocent small child, I understand that you feel for the children of your DP as well. I hope they receive support, kindness and understanding.....but it can't come from you in this situation. They have parents of their own and SS's involved, so leave them alone now. And don't send them gifts, that could be misconstrued and might even put your own DS at further risk.

You need a laser focus on your DS's interests now; just protect him from all this drama that has nothing to do with him.

Thechaseison71 · 14/09/2025 13:39

MadinMarch · 14/09/2025 13:22

Just to say, as an ex social worker, I have been aware of 7 year olds who sexually abuse. Very unusual, but it is possible.
I'm not saying OP's son is a sexual abuser, just that it can occur.

A 7 year old that's sexually abused 2 teenage girls? I'd imagine if such a thing was to happen then it would be a child who was abused themselves and doing it to those his own age or smaller

SandrenaIsMyBloodType · 14/09/2025 13:39

I honestly think that your current arrangements are best for all the children. You are removing your stepchildren from a situation in which they can be manipulated and pressured by their mother into telling lies that could haunt them as adults.
You are providing a consistent arrangement for the girls and few things could be more valuable to them now. And this arrangement is safe for your other children too.

I understand why it doesn’t feel good because it’s not what you want for your family. But it fulfills your most fundamental obligation as a parent which is to keep your children safe. And the situation you wish for is simply not one of your choices so going back to the basic parenting principle of protection is the best way forward for you all.

You sound immensely compassionate and level-headed in the face of very difficult circumstances and I think you should trust your instincts. Whether she is motivated by mental illness or just a poisonous personality, your DH’s ex wants to create drama and division and calmly refusing to let her is actually your best revenge. People like her hate to be dismissed.

Arregaithel · 14/09/2025 13:26

MangaMoo · 14/09/2025 12:18

I guess so - just because I wanted a happy family doesn’t mean they did

but you have a happy family unit @MangaMoo; your 2 sons and your partner.

If the current arrangement wrt to your partner and his daughters is working, then leave well alone.

Just concentrate on your own family and do not get involved with the girls (gifts for them will change nothing)

Protect your boys and please, please ensure that you are financially independent.

AnxietySloth · 14/09/2025 13:24

You weren't a 'happy blended family' though - that was in your head. In reality you were a random grouping of people who didn't want or choose to spend time together. And that's evident from the very dangerous and horrible situation that transpired.

I'd personally be taking my son out of this fucked up situation, leaving my DH and having shared custody with the baby only on the proviso the baby was never left alone with the daughters.

MadinMarch · 14/09/2025 13:22

Thechaseison71 · 14/09/2025 12:04

He's 7. What is he likely to be guilty of.?

Just to say, as an ex social worker, I have been aware of 7 year olds who sexually abuse. Very unusual, but it is possible.
I'm not saying OP's son is a sexual abuser, just that it can occur.

Samscaff · 14/09/2025 13:22

Do SDs know that the allegations were found to be false and malicious? I appreciate that they are only children themselves and obviously have loyalty to their mother, but they are old enough to have the seriousness of false allegations explained to them and to understand.

Aren't they keen to see their baby brother?

I'm not suggesting anything will change immediately, but it could be that in a couple of years they will realise the awfulness of what they caused, and tell the truth.

In the meantime, of course I understand why their father still sees them but I wouldn't be sending them presents, and if they asked why they can’t come to your house like before I hope he is telling them exactly why.

SirBasil · 14/09/2025 13:15

JohnofWessex · 14/09/2025 12:42

Can we please please use words not acronyms

Whats a BM & I dont know what a SK - Second Class Corridor Coach has to do with it?

they are regularly used acronyms since the advent of parenting fora on the internet.

And even if you don't know - context helps

lifeonmars100 · 14/09/2025 13:14

No advice but just wanted to say that you sound like a lovely caring person who is seeking to understand why you SDs are behaving in this way which is very much to your credit given how horrible this must be for you and your son.

meeleymanatee · 14/09/2025 13:14

Does your DS have a relationship with his father? And any custody arrangement?

Thingyfanding · 14/09/2025 13:12

Couldn’t follow because of the acronyms.

PrincessofWells · 14/09/2025 13:11

I'm sorry to say this but the relationship is clearly not working for your child so why are you still there? It sounds an extremely toxic situation and your son needs out of it.

SunriseOver · 14/09/2025 13:11

Something has happened to your partner's daughters if they thought of accusing a seven year old of sexual assault OP. This kind of sexualised behaviour is a red flag for sexual abuse or exposure to inappropriate sexual content coming from somewhere in their lives.

The entire thing sounds like a mess but the 12 and 13 year old DDs of your DP (they're not really your step daughters) are quite possibly at risk from someone in their messy and chaotic lives and are the ones their father should be concerned about, if he's a good person.

oncemoreuntothebeachdearfriends · 14/09/2025 13:10

At 12 & 13 they knew what they were doing.
Keep well away from them, & certainly don't send presents - that could be misconstrued.

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