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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

to want to have a separate house from DP and DSC indefinitely?

97 replies

DippyPippy · 04/12/2013 12:57

DP and I have been together for four years and have been planning to move in together in the new year. I have a 7 year old and 4 year old and he has an 8 and 6 year old who he sees around once-twice per month. We are really happy and I know we are both committed long term. The children all get on really well. My problem is that I've got a really good job lined up once my youngest starts school in January. If I move in with DP I can't take the job as I'll receive no tax credits to help with childcare and because the distance from his house to my DC school means it'd be impossible to get to work on time. DP absolutely cannot move as he has to live close to work.

Also, he has a three bedroomed house and we have 3 girls and a boy between us. His children want a bedroom each and refuse to share despite both being girls. He intends to make both rooms girly meaning my ds won't be happy or feel welcome in my opinion. I would struggle to find a job as he earns too much to qualify for tax credits and I want to work to earn, not just for the sake of it.

If we stayed living separately until the children arr older (we don't plan on having anymore) we could afford days out, weekends away, to save etc. If we move in together I'd have to be a SAHM and we'd have to live frugally, plus my children would have a lower standard of living and my career would be finished while DPs would flourish with me as back up childcare. AIBU to want to remain living separately?

OP posts:
apachepony · 04/12/2013 13:01

Yanbu. Sounds like madness to move in together.

BunnyLebowski · 04/12/2013 13:04

YANBU.

If I ever split from DP and started a relationship with someone who had kids I would never live with them. I'd live on my own with DD.

I would never subject DD to joining a 'blended' family and, if I'm brutally honest, I don't want to look after someone else's kids on a regular basis.

That and the money/job/house issues you state make me sure YADNBU.

JuneauWhoIAm · 04/12/2013 13:06

It's a no brained really OP.
You need to look after your little family.

Floggingmolly · 04/12/2013 13:06

So it's about losing benefits tax credits, mainly? Hmm

Bogeyface · 04/12/2013 13:09

Doesnt sound like it would work to me. And tbh, he doesnt seem to be making any effort to welcome your children anyway. Where would your children be in the house if his DD's are not expected to share and have their own girly rooms? This would be your childrens permanent home, and yet they wouldnt have their own space (even in a shared room)?

Seems like you and your children would be making all the sacrifices and him and his DD's arent making any at all. I wouldnt want to live with someone who would blatantly put my DC second in that way. I wouldnt want to be with someone at all if they were like that!

DippyPippy · 04/12/2013 13:11

Not receiving tax credits = work not being financially viable FloggingMolly and therefore giving up on the career and job I've been working towards for the past three years.

OP posts:
Bogeyface · 04/12/2013 13:12

Flogging

She wants to retain her career and independence. Her "benefits" as you so charmingly put it, will be paid back many times over if her career is allowed to flourish, and the childcare element is there for precisely this reason, to help people get and keep jobs.

And I take it that in your rush to judge the scrounging OP, you missed the bit about her DC not getting a bedroom in this mans house?

DippyPippy · 04/12/2013 13:14

Bogeyface, to be fair to him, it's his ex that insists the girls must have their own rooms with their own things in and she's transferred that demand onto his daughters. When they're there it's expected my DC will share as his ex also doesn't want her daughters sharing with my children

OP posts:
WilsonFrickett · 04/12/2013 13:14

3 bedroomed house, 4 children, his get a room each, yours don't.

For that reason and that reason alone I wouldn't move. His children and your children aren't going to be 'blended', yours are going to join his. Very different situation.

WhoNickedMyName · 04/12/2013 13:20

There’s so much wrong with your post I wouldn’t know where to start.

But ultimately, you’d be a fool to give up your financial independence and your home to move in with this man, and especially without a ring on your finger.

YANBU to want to continue living separately, it's the only sensible thing to do.

BigWellyLittleWelly · 04/12/2013 13:21

If you're not happy with it don't do it.

Its your life and your career, yes you can choose to share it with your DP and his children but your family come first.

But then I think you know this already. Compromise and leading by example seem to be the order of the day here and just because your stepdaughters have that set up at their mothers it does not mean it will be the same at thwir fathers.

DippyPippy · 04/12/2013 13:21

Besides the bedroom issue, which I'm sure could change if I were to make it a condition of moving in, I just think it's easier for all the children to just enjoy each others company rather than be forced to live together and share parents.

OP posts:
DippyPippy · 04/12/2013 13:24

WhoNicked... He wants to get married and is happy to support me while I stay at home but I don't want to once my youngest is at school.

OP posts:
Beastofburden · 04/12/2013 13:25

Best not. His kids only visit, yet they get to dominate the bedrooms? I would keep your kids' home as it is, focussed around them. They will feel as if they are camping out at this rate.

run your own home, and he can come and stay over when his kids are at their mother's house. I know you say he has to live close to work, but I bet he could commute sometimes.

Not a good idea to throw up your own job and be a SAHM, especially as in this case, your kids would be the permanent residents yet would be treated as second class.

Maybe in a few years you will be able to afford a big enough house for everyone, and/or the DSCs mother may feel able to be a bit more flexible about the children sharing.

FetchezLaVache · 04/12/2013 13:29

YADNBU- it would be madness to move it atm! Your DCs would be living in the house permanently and his would only be there once or twice a month, but it would be your DCs having to share, or would that be only when his children were staying?

Seems to me if you keep the status quo for a while longer, you will be in a position to get a bigger house together in a few years' time. I certainly wouldn't give up my career, independence and children's home in your shoes, particularly as he wouldn't be compromising on anything at all, as far as I can see.

catsmother · 04/12/2013 13:30

I think the resentment would kill you the way you describe it and your children would also fare very badly. I too don't understand how your boy and girl are supposed to be accommodated - at all - if, in a 3 bed house, his 2 girls have a bedroom each. As for an 8 year old and 6 year old "refusing to share" ..... well, that doesn't bode well. The children are all of an age where the adults get to decide what the house rules and arrangements are ..... so if this "refusal" to share is being touted to you, that makes me think that your DP is already prioritising his kids over yours.

I didn't read this as being about "losing tax credits" (plus sceptical face ?!) .... I read it as being about a woman who, sensibly, does not want to lose her financial independence - which, given the whole job/school considerations, plus the tax credit issue which can't be conveniently ignored if childcare has to be paid for (you can't live on thin air if all your pay goes out again on care) - would almost certainly happen. There's nothing wrong per se - obviously - with being a SAHM, but no-one can dispute that it's the ideal situation for all women and there's a big difference between choosing to be a SAHM and having the choice, in effect, made for you because you can't otherwise earn enough to clear any pay once childcare has been sorted.

Even if OP did move in with DP it sounds to me like her and her children would have to sacrifice a great deal given there can be no compromise with where they live due to DP's job. Even if she accepts being a SAHM and living frugally - it sounds as if her children would either have to change schools or spend more time travelling to their existing school every day.

Given how hard it can be to blend families anyway, I don't think the OP is being unreasonable to be pragmatic about this. How awful would she feel if she moved in, became a SAHM, but the relationship later broke down and, by then, she'd been out of the job market for ages. How bad would she feel about throwing away the good job she's got lined up ? .... these days, it's a very big thing indeed to dismiss a good job. And where would that then leave her children ?

I really think in the circumstances you'd be best to remain apart. As Bogeyface says this would also give me food for thought anyway - it's not just about being able to afford to do nice things if you live separately - it's also his attitude which seems less than welcoming based on what you've described so far. Reads like you and yours have to fit in with him and his, rather than him proposing compromises and possible solutions to the living arrangements - still can't imagine where your kids would go !

Oh - and of course, you'd be particularly vulnerable as a SAHM if you're not married in the event of a split.

UC · 04/12/2013 13:31

I would definitely not move into his house under those circumstances. Your children are living with you (I presume) much more of the time than the "once-twice a month" that his DCs come to stay. Yet his DCs get a bedroom each, both decorated for girls, and your DCs have to go ... where exactly????

Recipe for total disaster IMO. And mostly for your children. "Blending" families is difficult at the best of times (I've been there), and the most important thing IMO is that all the children are treated equally. In the scenario you describe, your children are not being treated equally at all. You and they will resent this, and I would put money on it ending in tears.

Sorry.

DippyPippy · 04/12/2013 13:33

Precisely beastofburden, once they're older, my career has progressed, childcare is less of on issue etc would be better timing I think. He has weekdays off when he could stay over here as he works shifts. His children are also mean to mine on occasion and have broken their belongings in the past and I'm not sure moving in together would help that.

OP posts:
Beastofburden · 04/12/2013 13:43

I think that is right, and also, the children will be more mature, hopefully better behaved (who knows, maybe much worse of course as teen years are coming up) and with any luck, their mother will be happy in a new life and more prepared to support the blending of the family.

I think your children would have the right to feel hard done by if you went along with this arrangement. It's also not good that your DP is prepared to agree to it, as it is ridiculous, on the face of it, that children who are rarely there get to dominate things. Best let him work through all his guilt and appeasement of the ex first.

And do, do keep your own financial independence. If it doesn't work out, you will need it. Hope it all works out well for you.

DippyPippy · 04/12/2013 13:45

Catsmother - his dc do rule the roost a bit. For example,we went to the seaside and had taken bottles of water in the car to drink on the journey a couple of weeks ago. His dds demanded he stop at a shop and buy them a chilled bottle Confused I don't want my children to think behaviour like that is acceptable. If we live separately then enforcing my rules is possible whereas if we live together I wouldn't be prepared to tolerate their behaviour in what would also be my and my dcs home

OP posts:
catsmother · 04/12/2013 13:46

Okay - you've provided a bit more info while I was writing and it's good he wants to marry you. But most of what I wrote still applies.

I know all about demanding, unrealistic exes who drum a way of thinking into their kids - but she can "insist" all she likes. It should still be the adults who decide what's what.

Regardless, your DP still seems unfair if he intends decorating both rooms in a girly fashion. When they're there it's unfair your kids must share - especially as they're opposite sex. This might not be the end of the world now but could become more awkward in the future. Also, DS is going to feel very unwelcome indeed in a "girl's room" the vast majority of the time - can you imagine him inviting friends round for a playdate and the ribbing he'd get ? Surely, there must be a way round that - and stuff what the ex wants. The three girls could share for example, with DS having the smallest room, or you and DP could use a sofa bed so his girls can have your room ..... or a 2nd reception if you have one could be made into a temporary bedroom with decent futons, bedside lamps, rugs, cushions etc.

In any case though, bedrooms aside, it still doesn't solve the job issue - or the drop in living standards. That's a big ask on top of a potentially difficult time settling in and "blending" ..... if the ex is already making demands and transferring this to her kids, chances are it won't be the last you hear of it. I wouldn't give up the opportunity you have nor subject your kids to being 2nd best - BTW you shouldn't have to sort the bedroom issue by making conditions before you move in, he should naturally want to sort it with you ... not be effectively "forced" into doing so - AND also knowingly walk into a tricky situation. Stepmums are often told they "knew what they were getting into" - which is often rubbish in most cases - but here, you've had some clear warnings ....... the ex is already being difficult and shit-stirring, and your DP seemingly doesn't have enough sense or compassion to appreciate why it'd be unfair and unkind to have a small boy live in a girly room (which he then has to vacate regularly anyway).

WooWooOwl · 04/12/2013 13:50

Sounds like it would be madness to move in together tbh. YANBU.

catsmother · 04/12/2013 13:51

I really think you've made up your mind haven't you and I don't blame you one bit ! Smile

Unless you and DP can both agree to treat all the kids exactly the same then your life and that of your kids will be miserable. I presume he stopped and bought the chilled water - that'd get my back up too. I can guarantee it'd feel ten times more annoying and rude if you were living together and DP was still giving in to "demands".

QuintessentialShadows · 04/12/2013 13:51

You seem to have your head screwed on. Good for you!

In a three bedroom house, if two of the bedrooms are earmarked HIS children, and you share his bed, where are YOUR children going to live? In a tent in the garden?

I would absolutely not move in. No benefit to you in doing so, only for him.

You are right to live separately with your children, and ensure you can develop a career, your independence as well as your security and bond with your children.

FrequentFlyerRandomDent · 04/12/2013 13:53

Yanbu. It makes sense.

Plus once when boy/girl share a room, it is recommended that they do not share when the eldest reaches about 10. At least our council uses this rule as a guidance.

I think you end to work out what you want and speak to him.