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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

AIBU to let my boyfriend and his daughter sleep over

324 replies

FeelingUnsureNow · 08/06/2021 00:04

Just that really. Been seeing bf for 8 months. Because of our jobs and distance, we only see each other once or twice a week and we are really great together. My 16 year old son is cool with sleepovers, his 12 year old is cool with it but my 14 year old daughter is not happy. She likes him, is indifferent to his daughter and doesn't want them to sleepover because she feels like it's an invasion of her space. Fair call, I think but not sure how to tell him without offending. I'm not sure if I'm being unreasonable for letting them stay. Be kind please. Just trying to get perspective and do the right thing.

OP posts:
HalfTermHalfTerm · 08/06/2021 21:22

This is not how to teach her.

You want a shag in your house, you aren't content to protect your children from your sex life. There's no 'lady' in that situation.

Please put your children first. You have choices, they don't.

I think this is actually one of the nastiest things I’ve ever read on here. 8 months might be too soon for a partner to stay over, but the OP doesn’t need to ‘protect’ anyone from her sex life. It’s a relationship, not a succession of random one night stands on the sofa. If it’s genuinely just the thought of her mum having sex that is bothering the OP’s daughter that much (although I’m quite certain it isn’t) then tough luck, frankly.

And of course, everyone knows that real ladies don’t have sex Hmm

ChequerBoard · 08/06/2021 21:23

@PolkadotFlamingos

I'm in disbelief at some of these posts. Are people really this bonkers?!

It's not you @PolkadotFlamingos, there are some very odd posters trying justify some very odd 'viewpoints'.

aSofaNearYou · 08/06/2021 21:31

Ok. It seems you admit it was a pointless and baseless comment that you will not even attempt to justify so I'll just disregard it and hope others do likewise. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Eer, no, are you always this intense and patronising? Seems so from your comments to other posters.

It was not a pointless comment, it was just a more general one than the one's you are interested in making. People take different things from the discussion. Let it go.

Subbaxeo · 08/06/2021 21:54

@HalfTermHalfTerm so true. Does this mean parents who are together aren’t allowed to have sex in their own homes. And that comment is downright nasty.

PolkadotFlamingos · 08/06/2021 22:05

@aSofaNearYou

Ok. It seems you admit it was a pointless and baseless comment that you will not even attempt to justify so I'll just disregard it and hope others do likewise. 🤷🏻‍♀️

Eer, no, are you always this intense and patronising? Seems so from your comments to other posters.

It was not a pointless comment, it was just a more general one than the one's you are interested in making. People take different things from the discussion. Let it go.

I'm all for overarching principles that draw concepts together. Not so much interested in vague conjectures that people refuse to substantiate.
PolkadotFlamingos · 08/06/2021 22:07

It's not you @PolkadotFlamingos, there are some very odd posters trying justify some very odd 'viewpoints'.

Thank you for this. I'm genuinely shocked by some of the posts so I'm glad in a way that other people also find them bonkers! I think I'll go to bed. 🤣

aSofaNearYou · 08/06/2021 22:09

I'm all for overarching principles that draw concepts together. Not so much interested in vague conjectures that people refuse to substantiate.

Did I ask you to be interested in it? I was responding to a different poster. Christ actual opinions to one side, you have been an unpleasant presence on this thread. Why do you feel the need for every single poster to be directly speaking to and justifying themself to you?

PolkadotFlamingos · 08/06/2021 22:13

Does this mean parents who are together aren’t allowed to have sex in their own homes.

I mean, some of it like this is so totally bonkers, ridiculous, a false-equivalence, and completely irrelevant, on level 119475638294. 🙄

Congratulations.

I'm out.

PolkadotFlamingos · 08/06/2021 22:21

@aSofaNearYou

I'm all for overarching principles that draw concepts together. Not so much interested in vague conjectures that people refuse to substantiate.

Did I ask you to be interested in it? I was responding to a different poster. Christ actual opinions to one side, you have been an unpleasant presence on this thread. Why do you feel the need for every single poster to be directly speaking to and justifying themself to you?

Sorry you find my views unpleasant.

This is a public forum. If people post here they know that anybody can respond to comments either from the OP or those made by subsequent posters; in fact that's why many post in the first place! If you dislike this format and wish for a one-to-one conversation where only the person you direct comments to can respond to you then this forum probably isn't for you.

aSofaNearYou · 08/06/2021 22:27

*Sorry you find my views unpleasant.

This is a public forum. If people post here they know that anybody can respond to comments either from the OP or those made by subsequent posters; in fact that's why many post in the first place! If you dislike this format and wish for a one-to-one conversation where only the person you direct comments to can respond to you then this forum probably isn't for you.*

I don't find your views unpleasant, I find your manner unpleasant. You seem to feel the need for each comment to focus on the same areas of the conversation you are focused on. Even if a comment is not directed at you, it must fit that mould. I did explain my thoughts, but because they don't address YOUR focus you demand an admission that the comment was somehow pointless. It's arrogant and excessive.

PolkadotFlamingos · 08/06/2021 22:52

No clue what that ramble was about either, if you have a specific complaint about something I've said that you care to explain in less vague terms than "a dislike of my manner" then please report the offending posts. If I haven't actually said anything offensive and you simply dislike how I write or express myself then that may be a result of a specific prejudice you have that you should examine, and it has little to do with me.

Anyway, as I said... I am off to bed! Enjoy your evening.

QuentinBunbury · 08/06/2021 22:55

I don't find your views unpleasant, I find your manner unpleasant. You seem to feel the need for each comment to focus on the same areas of the conversation you are focused on.....It's arrogant and excessive.*
Yes. Not to mention totally unhelpful to the OP who posted for help.

aSofaNearYou · 08/06/2021 22:59

@PolkadotFlamingos

No clue what that ramble was about either, if you have a specific complaint about something I've said that you care to explain in less vague terms than "a dislike of my manner" then please report the offending posts. If I haven't actually said anything offensive and you simply dislike how I write or express myself then that may be a result of a specific prejudice you have that you should examine, and it has little to do with me.

Anyway, as I said... I am off to bed! Enjoy your evening.

Maybe the issue is with your comprehension, then? How many comments are you going to claim you don't understand, and then try and claim I didn't explain? 🙄
QuentinBunbury · 08/06/2021 23:03

Are you for real? You've tried to google studies about the effects of a parent imposing new partners into children's lives against their wishes and came up with nothing??

Yes I did. You keep telling me that this is scientifically accepted consensus, and empirically proven psychology. I was interested to see the evidence. All I could find was information about step parents, which doesn't seem at all applicable to OPs scenario. (And FWIW it also appears that outcomes for children in step parent set ups are damaging when the other parent isn't involved, and single parents in the same situation are only slightly better in terms of outcomes).

So. I think if you are going to accuse the OP of potentially damaging their child you should be able to back that up. Otherwise, yeah, you are being arrogant and unpleasant.

Tinkling · 09/06/2021 06:57

@QuentinBunbury

My mother imposed partners upon me without discussion, repeatedly. I spent a long time in therapy talking about how I didn’t feel good enough, how I wasn’t listened to or respected. I ended up with an eating disorder and OCD. My sibling also has had therapy. That’s the headlines, there’s more than that.

Just because nobody has done a study doesn’t mean it isn’t going on. Everyone should feel safe in their own homes and having boundaries crossed because their parent doesn’t like the answer isn’t good enough IMO.

Holly60 · 09/06/2021 07:55

If your daughter says no, I’d give her more time. It’s respectful, and if you want her to experience a respectful man, it needs to start now with him (and you) respecting her wishes to not have them sleep over….

Holly60 · 09/06/2021 07:55

She isn’t going to learn about respect from a man who stays over when she doesn’t want him to

billy1966 · 09/06/2021 07:56

[quote Tinkling]@QuentinBunbury

My mother imposed partners upon me without discussion, repeatedly. I spent a long time in therapy talking about how I didn’t feel good enough, how I wasn’t listened to or respected. I ended up with an eating disorder and OCD. My sibling also has had therapy. That’s the headlines, there’s more than that.

Just because nobody has done a study doesn’t mean it isn’t going on. Everyone should feel safe in their own homes and having boundaries crossed because their parent doesn’t like the answer isn’t good enough IMO.[/quote]
I think this was the point a number of poster's were trying to make.

Unfortunately like your mother, there are posters who would have thought your mother indulgent to have given your feelings any thought or consideration.

I can only imagine how hard that must have been and how the effects have impacted your life.

There is so much talk about privilege today, I think a calm, safe, secure home unfortunately has become a privilege that so many children don't get to enjoy.

As @Sssloou also said, OP's daughter's clinginess comes from a place of insecurity.

14 is an age where they are no longer young children but very young teens that are trying to find their place in their world.

Home is their security blanket that they love to retreat to.
Teens get tired from their engagement with their peers, their bedrooms are a break from being "on".

I'm not so very old that I can't remember that clearly.

I really hope the OP appreciates that she may not be the only one in the house engulfed in grief after all that they have been through, and gives her daughter the space and crucially, the privacy she needs, in her own home.

dottiedodah · 09/06/2021 09:27

TBH I think the odd night staying over wont do too much harm .DD is feeling insecure yes .However its a totally different ball game to moving him in full stop! Lots of me time with DD will help and obviously keeping things casual for the moment .There are many teenagers who would prefer to think of their parents as just "Mum" or "Dad" but everyone needs a life of their own too!

Whythesadface · 09/06/2021 11:04

What about a mums right to a life?
People say their mums imposed boyfriends on them, but what harm is done to a mother who gave up her youth and love life for neatly 20 years, for children who then leave her alone and almost never visit.
Lots of women on MN have second partners because a marriage broke down leaving the husband free to be Disney dad's who then have no guilt thrown at them when they marry and carry on life.

QuentinBunbury · 09/06/2021 11:08

tinkling I'm sorry that happened to you Flowers

billy Unfortunately like your mother, there are posters who would have thought your mother indulgent to have given your feelings any thought or consideration.

If that's aimed at me it's a bit harsh. The OP clearly is giving her DDs feelings thought and consideration or she wouldn't have posted. I'm giving my opinion on OPs specific scenario, which is I think its unreasonable of a 14 y o to dictate who her mother hosts as an occasional guest in her home.

For having that opinion I've been told I don't care about my kids and I don't understand psychology.

OP has been told if she invites her boyfriend to stay she will harm her daughter.

I think its insulting to both of us and asking for evidence from that poster to back up her statements.

I DO NOT think ignoring your kids, routinely inviting different men to stay before you know its a serious relationship and giving no fucks is a good parenting approach.

This thread has gone very polarised and its not at all helpful to the OP. Or in fact anyone starting a new relationship and looking for advice.

feistymumma · 09/06/2021 11:24

@Bluedeblue

I don't know why everyone is saying that 8 months is nothing? My boyfriend moved in with me at the 8 month mark. The kids were 9 & 11 at the time. I'm sure that my DD would have objected, had I let her be the boss, because no daughter wants a new "dad". But the kids aren't in charge. We are now married and it is 13 years later. My DD is still at home (a working adult), and her and my DH are great friends and enjoy lots of laughs, and we are a very happy family.

If this guy is as nice as Op says he is, there's no way I'd be letting a 14 y/o dictate a parents love life. She will most likely never say a sleep over is okay, so is Mum meant to just never have a partner again?

In this situation, I would let them stay over, but make them both sleep in the spare room, so the kids aren't having to think about the fact that Mum and Partner are in bed together. This is a fair compromise, imo.

My Mum's cousin lost her DH when she was in her 40's, and her children told her they would never accept her having a new Partner. Instead of telling them not to be so ridiculous, she did as she was told, and never again had a love life, and died a spinster. Fuck that nonsense.

This!
KurtWilde · 09/06/2021 11:25

@Whythesadface

What about a mums right to a life? People say their mums imposed boyfriends on them, but what harm is done to a mother who gave up her youth and love life for neatly 20 years, for children who then leave her alone and almost never visit. Lots of women on MN have second partners because a marriage broke down leaving the husband free to be Disney dad's who then have no guilt thrown at them when they marry and carry on life.
Literally no one is saying a woman should give up her love life entirely, don't be so dramatic.
Subbaxeo · 09/06/2021 12:10

@QuentinBunbury

tinkling I'm sorry that happened to you Flowers

billy Unfortunately like your mother, there are posters who would have thought your mother indulgent to have given your feelings any thought or consideration.

If that's aimed at me it's a bit harsh. The OP clearly is giving her DDs feelings thought and consideration or she wouldn't have posted. I'm giving my opinion on OPs specific scenario, which is I think its unreasonable of a 14 y o to dictate who her mother hosts as an occasional guest in her home.

For having that opinion I've been told I don't care about my kids and I don't understand psychology.

OP has been told if she invites her boyfriend to stay she will harm her daughter.

I think its insulting to both of us and asking for evidence from that poster to back up her statements.

I DO NOT think ignoring your kids, routinely inviting different men to stay before you know its a serious relationship and giving no fucks is a good parenting approach.

This thread has gone very polarised and its not at all helpful to the OP. Or in fact anyone starting a new relationship and looking for advice.

What a sensible post. It’s obvious the OP is considering her daughter’s feelings. Some of the tone of some of the posters has been quite nasty. Telling her she’s involving children in her sex life, scratching an itch, moving the boyfriend in.She obviously cares about her family and is looking to do the right thing and wanted a bit of advice.
Whythesadface · 09/06/2021 12:24

Yes, people are saying the children stopped the mums having a life.
Which is why in a post before I said you explain, if a child can have sleepovers so can the mum.
90% of us are not going to be having loads of men , we will be inviting someone we care about to visit, after getting into a relationship of many months.