Meet the Other Phone. Flexible and made to last.

Meet the Other Phone.
Flexible and made to last.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

I think my sister was out of order

92 replies

radiodad · 11/09/2015 12:23

So the background to this is my wife passed away 6 months ago. We have 4 DCs together. DD1 (11) DS1 (7) and DD2 and DS2 who are twins (4).

It has been really difficult DD 1 in particular is finding it incredibly hard. She has just started secondary school and she is also starting puberty and she could really use her mum to talk to.I have tried to talk to her a bit but she finds it a bit embarrassing talking to her dad about it.
She has a therapist but she is very wary of opening up to her. She has always been very shy and takes a while to open up to strangers and she is finding everything even harder now.

So I asked my sister if she could talk to her about everything so she can have a female to talk to about anything she wants. My sister can be a bit self-involved but when my wife died she promised to be there for us for anything and she has been helpful getting food shopping and helping buying the DCs stuff ready for school.

My sister was keen to help and so she picked DD 1 up from school on Wednesday and took her back to hers for ice cream and a chat.
They arrived back later than planned and DD went straight to her room. I asked my sister what they had talked about. My sister said she had promised to keep it a secret but DD was fine and just a little upset because in the car on the way home she had become upset for no obvious reason.
I went upstairs to talk to her later and DD said she was fine and she was just tired.

So yesterday when she got up for school she said she felt sick and wanted to stay home. She didn't eat her breakfast and she doesn't usually have days off so I said fine. I had to go to work but I came back to see her on my lunch and break and she was lying on the sofa and very quiet not even watching tv.

At dinnertime DD 2 was talking about her day at school and then she dropped her fork and DD1 shouted at her and told her to concentrate on what she was doing then stormed off to her room.

I went to see her and she was sobbing into her pillow. I asked her what was wrong and in the end she told me that my sister kept trying to talk to her and DD 1 told her that she didn't want to talk just now. My sister told her that it was tough and she was going to talk to her because I was fed up of her whingeing (I have never said that). DD1 asked my sister if that was true and my sister said yes it was and everyone was really disappointed in her because She should be a mother figure for the younger DCs and she told her that sister was the only one who understood her so DD had to talk to her.
DD said that she didn't believe that I would say that and my sister insisted that it was true.
DD was really upset so sister talked to her for a bit about how unfair I was and how sister was the only one my DD could trust because teachers would report to me if she said anything. Then she swore DD to silence and told her that if she blabbed I would be really cross and probably tell the school that DD was a problem kid and all the teachers would hate her and her friends would stay away from her. Then sister repeated this in the car on the way home to remind her to keep quiet.

I told DD that sister was wrong and I would never do that and I loved her. She was still really upset , we talked and I reassured her for hours and she couldn't get to sleep till the early hours of the morning.
When she woke up I convinced her to go to school and I am hoping she will be okay today.

I called my sister and asked her why she did that and she said it was to get DD to open up. She was unapologetic because she says that her plan worked as DD did talk to her. She doesn't think she was in the wrong and became upset with me when I told her how angry with her I was. She says anyone would have done the same and I just can't see that because I am grieving and jealous that DD opened up to her and not me.
She claims to have spoken to my mum and my mum agrees that sister did the right thing.

So AIBU or was my sister out of order to say that to my DD.

OP posts:
FishWithABicycle · 11/09/2015 20:25

What a horrible thing to do to a grieving child. Your sister is an utter bitch.

featherandblack · 11/09/2015 20:26

What a horrendously toxic piece of work your sister is. Thank goodness you were able to get to the bottom of this before it went any further. Please, never allow this woman unsupervised contact with your children again. That poor little girl.

If you want someone to talk to your DD, why not see if there's anyone the school can recommend, or a close friend of your wife's who you trust. You can also call Winston's Wish who will give some excellent advice on supporting her.

Anotheronebitthedust · 11/09/2015 20:28

Just in agreement with everyone else really, your sister sounds horrible. Even if her intentions were good and she just went about it in a cack-handed way, when you told her how upset dd was any normal personal would have been horrified about how badly they'd messed up, whereas it seems like that was the result she was aiming for. Even the bit about telling her she should be a mother figure to her younger siblings, at 11! This isn't 1880 ffs!

wrt sanitary protection and similar, would she be more comfortable adding stuff to an online shop rather than getting you to buy it? Or you could give her a little bit extra in her allowance and remind her that she can always use the self-checkouts in boots or tescos or whatever if she is embarrassed to buy it in person to start with. Or you could ask your nice sister to bring a big bulk box whenever she visits.

Would dd maybe like to join guides, or a dance class, or whatever else her interests are as a way of meeting older girls/women outside of school and family?

quietbatperson · 11/09/2015 20:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

radiodad · 11/09/2015 20:51

Thank you

I spoke to my mum.
She said that my sister told her that I had asked my sister to force DD to open up by any means necessary and I had told her to say whatever it took.
My mum said that she told my sister that what she said was wrong and my sister insisted that I told her to do it so my DD would talk to her and my sister just had to go along with it.

I told my mum that I said no such thing and I just wanted DD to feel like she had someone else to talk too and I would never want my sister to force her to talk to anyone.

My mum was upset that my sister had lied to her and that my sister used her to try and justify her actions.

DD has been quiet since she came home from school, and she keeps saying she doesn't want to talk about it. She has some good friends and she is going to a friend's party and sleepover tomorrow so hopefully that will help her.

OP posts:
cremeeggboycotter · 11/09/2015 21:05

She sounds like she's playing you all off against the other so that she becomes the 'good one' or 'victim' depending on who she's talking to. Honestly OP, it sounds like you need to protect DD and the others from her. If you decide to then tell her that what your sister said was very out of line and she won't be able to say it again or upset her brothers and sister.

CrapBag · 11/09/2015 23:07

So your mum didn't agree with your sister. There's a surprise!

Is your mum someone your DD can go to?

FeckTheMagicDragon · 12/09/2015 01:38

So your sister was viciously cruel to you DD, tried to cover her tracks by telling your DD not to tell anyone what she said - lied to you about it, lied about your Mum, lied to your Mum. All coveting her own arse without a thought as to what damage she's done to a young teenage girl who has recently lost her mother.

Has she always been an atrocious cunt?
I know you need all the support you can get right now - but keep her the fuck away from your children. She's seriously not right in the head.

HeartsTrumpDiamonds · 12/09/2015 02:02

Oh God OP your poor DD. And poor you. With a sister like that who needs enemies eh?

Sorry for your loss Flowers

You sound like a great dad.

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 12/09/2015 02:20

OMG, your latest update had me open-mouthed all over again - so she tried to blame you for her appallingness, did she? Your poor mother couldn't have known what to do for the best, but at least her feelings on the matter are in the right camp - your sister was ALL SHADES OF WRONG and continues to be so!

I think the pp who mentioned the hero complex issue might be onto something - because other than that I can NOT imagine what would go through a sane adult's mind to say that sort of thing to a grieving child.

I do hope that between you and your mother, your wife's friends, her friends' mothers and other sane and kind adults, your DD finds people to talk to about her troubles - and keep her and your other children well away from your twisted sister!

Baconyum · 12/09/2015 02:36

Only read op's posts.

That's awful I'd be furious with sister and never leaving her alone with any child of mine again! Stupid cow!

Re someone for dd to open up to. Is therapist a bereavement counsellor? Could they recommend a board for dd to talk on? As we all know MN can be a godsend. In wondering if there's something similar for bereaved children? Or a group therapy type thing?

Takes it away from her having to talk to adults which especially after this she may be reluctant to do thanks to your sister Angry

ThumbWitchesAbroad · 12/09/2015 02:56

Well there's always Winston's Wish - have you heard of them, Radiodad? Might be an idea to aim your DD in that direction, I believe they have a chat board of sorts

Whereyourtreasureis · 12/09/2015 04:42

What everyone else has said.

Keep her away from your DD. So sorry for your loss Flowers thinking of you all X

amarmai · 12/09/2015 20:22

that has to be one of the worst bunch of lies ever. She did not do this as a one off- there is a huge long trail of lies over the course of your s's lifetime. Yet this was not something you knew? Your mother knows a lot more than she has admitted . If your m is acting as if this is a one off then you need to keep away from her too.

Fromparistoberlin73 · 14/09/2015 13:28

that Winstons wish has to be the most heart-breaking forum I have ever seen. I am literally choked.

and so many unanswered threads too.

I just want to bundle them all up

sorry OP! But check the response rates before you send your DD there XXXX nothing worse than an unanswered bereavement thread

featherandblack · 14/09/2015 13:30

It's not the forum fromparis but the helpline that would be a good idea for the OP to try.

Fromparistoberlin73 · 14/09/2015 13:49

got it, I was not having a dig but was genuinely so sad to see all these tragic unanswered threads- we need to send MN in and answer them all Sad

New posts on this thread. Refresh page