Stepson teasing my son about his weight

[LittleAnnie1971]

My first post here so hello everyone

My son and stepson are both 16 and have just finished their GCSE's. My son found the exams stressful and he gained a substantial amount of weight during the gcse process about two stone, I know it's bad but eating was his way of coping with stress.

My stepson has been teasing my son by taking pictures of him on snapchat with fake cartoon food in his hands. He has also made quite horrible comments saying my son has a pot belly and should go out running. My stepson is very slim as he does sport professionally. We went shopping for holiday clothes and he was bragging about having a waist 10 inches smaller than my son etc. My son responds by comments about dss acne which got worst because of stress and hot weather and by calling him lanky.

I know people will say it is two teenagers being little shits to each other and they might have a point but it is always stepson who starts the name calling and I have told him so has his dad and we have confiscated the phone.

I am worried that when we go on holiday in around 3 weeks time it will get worse as ds will be in swimming shorts. He already feels self conscious and I have put him on a diet and exercise program.

Anyone???

I would agree it's 2 teens being little shits to each other. But I think you are doing th the right thing in getting your DS to try and lose the excess weight.
Put some very strict ground rules & punishments in place for name calling on your holidays, or if the bickering continues it could make you all miserable.

Why not encourage dss to put together a fitness programme and assist him in getting fit?

I think at 16 hes old enough to learn to not make cruel comments. I'd get his dad to have very serious words with him.

"We don't treat each other like that in this house thank you!" Is the line my teenage sons are fairly familiar with.

The jibes about weight and acne are not acceptable. Yes teens rib each other but some things are never for poking fun at IMO.

I am generally of the opinion that banter is okay as long as both parties are fine with it (had acne back when I was a teen and my mate and I used to play "count the spots" and laugh at each other if one developed an extra spot overnight).

However, here your DS is clearly upset by it in which case it goes beyond simple teasing. I do hope that the fitness and diet program you've put him on places an emphasis on him doing it to be healthy instead of negating bullying though. And if they do start up again while on holiday, a simple "cut it out boys" or something along those lines would suffice.

It's not nice but me and my sister said far worse to each other. It shows they have a nice sibling relationship.

I don't know how the word nice got in there!

I think they both need to learn how to treat each other a bit better and if the stepson is the one starting all the time he needs to learn to stop, I think teasing him by putting things on social media mocking him is really out of order, I wouldnt be happy with that at all.

It sounds like your son is giving as good as he's getting. I would stay out of it for the moment, but keep an eye on their interactions. If things get worse might be time for a family chat.