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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Having to make space for a ‘sister’?

302 replies

Meggymoo777 · 28/05/2023 04:13

I have a half sister, same mother and we grew up together. Im mid 30s and she’s 6yrs younger.

I cut my ties with her 6 years ago, we were on holiday and she did some really unforgivable things, thought this holiday would really bring us together, I was so wrong, it just proved that she’s a really terrible person . I made sure she got home safe from that holiday and we never spoke again.

Her relationship with my Mum has been up and down, and completely nonexistent at times, but they are now rebuilding their relationship (nothing to do me or my Mum, in my opinion, my ‘sister’ just used people and she has now separated from her ‘partner’ who she’s had a child with she’s now using my Mum)
I am genuinely happy for my Mum, she’s happy she sees her daughter and now her grandchild, I offer advice on the latest drama that this girl has going on, I’m a great support to my Mum and she relies on me I think.
She asked me to meet this girl, I said absolutely not. I’m made to feel guilty because she also has a son, my ‘nephew’ apparently, that I’ve never met. I don’t feel guilty.

Now that they are rebuilding a relationship (which I want for my Mum!) I didn’t expect this pressure to be be directed at me as well. I support my Mum and her relationship with this girl, but I will not have her back in my life under any circumstances.

Think I’m just writing this to vent and get it down but would love some feedback | advice… am I wrong? Is family always so importantly as I’m told? I really don’t think it is?

OP posts:
WomanStanleyWoman2 · 28/05/2023 23:02

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You’re still missing the point. You’re so hung up on the whole “OMG you won’t refer to her as your sister?!” thing that you have lost sight of the facts of the post.

It doesn’t matter if you think the OP is a bitch for not talking to her half-sister. It doesn’t matter that you wouldn’t have done the same in her shoes. All that matters is that a) she doesn’t want a reconciliation and b) needs her mother to understand that. The whole “But whhhhyyyy?” nonsense adds nothing to the original discussion.

Achwheesht · 28/05/2023 23:36

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Achwheesht · 28/05/2023 23:38

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WomanStanleyWoman2 · 28/05/2023 23:46

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Absolute utter bullshit.

SparklyBlackKitten · 29/05/2023 01:24

So you grew up with her.
And call her "half sister" and "this girl "

Just call her what she is.
Your sister
And you might hate her
But she is your sister non the less

Just tell your mum you are not interested
The end

WomanStanleyWoman2 · 29/05/2023 01:41

So you grew up with her.
And call her "half sister" and "this girl

Just call her what she is.
Your sister

But she IS her half-sister. What is it about the term that you struggle to understand?

Bbqshowdownusa · 29/05/2023 07:41

SparklyBlackKitten · 29/05/2023 01:24

So you grew up with her.
And call her "half sister" and "this girl "

Just call her what she is.
Your sister
And you might hate her
But she is your sister non the less

Just tell your mum you are not interested
The end

But she is her HALF sister. That part is true. So she can call her that if she wants.

I have a half brother. He is not my brother. I’d never call him my brother as he’s not, he’s just a half brother.

NeverDropYourMooncup · 29/05/2023 09:07

Bbqshowdownusa · 29/05/2023 07:41

But she is her HALF sister. That part is true. So she can call her that if she wants.

I have a half brother. He is not my brother. I’d never call him my brother as he’s not, he’s just a half brother.

That is exactly how I grew up.

On my 5th birthday, when my mother was in intensive care with peritonitis, I was explained to my 'older sister's' friends as 'That's my half-sister-same-mother-different-father'.

Interesting way to find out for certain, although my teenaged 'brother' telling me frequently 'you're nothing to do with us, nobody wants you, we all wished you were dead' probably should have been a clue. But I was only 3-4, so the nuances were a bit beyond me.

I mean, I was a little kid who had an emotional attachment to these people. I thought they were my family.

I suppose yes, they had a perfect right to hate me and tell me that I was nothing to them when they weren't totally ignoring me (literally so at times). But it did make for an extra layer of insecurity to know that whilst it appeared that I had a family, actually I was on my own.

Puppers · 29/05/2023 09:20

TeaParty4Me · 28/05/2023 11:51

You are nit picking over the facts. I’m sticking to them.

The facts are that they’re sisters (half, full or step is irrelevant) and acting like she’s a stranger and calling her ‘girl’ or the ‘adult human female’ is making OP sound unreasonable and her language is very telling of how the sister has probably been treated and pushed out over the years.

Those aren’t facts. Here’s a fact: a sister is a female sibling i.e. a person who shares a mother and father with you. In your specific circumstances, you may feel that being related by marriage, or sharing one parent instead of two is “irrelevant” but for many people (most people, I imagine) it’s very relevant in their life because it is accompanied by a whole set of family dynamics and emotions. A sister (an actual sister you’ve known inside out and loved since the day they were born) is a very different thing to a step-sister you acquired when your dad remarried in your thirties. Hell, you may not even have met her.

I’m not one of the people who has been blindly propping up the OP here and I don’t think she comes across as very reasonable, but her use of the term “half-sister” is a total non-issue.

Divorcedalongtime · 29/05/2023 09:23

Meggymoo777 · 28/05/2023 08:16

Thank you @Chispazo I've spent thousands on therapy and have been working on myself for the last 15 years, I'm in a great place x

This is the biggest lie you are telling yourself that stops to you from actually healing

TeaParty4Me · 29/05/2023 10:38

Puppers · 29/05/2023 09:20

Those aren’t facts. Here’s a fact: a sister is a female sibling i.e. a person who shares a mother and father with you. In your specific circumstances, you may feel that being related by marriage, or sharing one parent instead of two is “irrelevant” but for many people (most people, I imagine) it’s very relevant in their life because it is accompanied by a whole set of family dynamics and emotions. A sister (an actual sister you’ve known inside out and loved since the day they were born) is a very different thing to a step-sister you acquired when your dad remarried in your thirties. Hell, you may not even have met her.

I’m not one of the people who has been blindly propping up the OP here and I don’t think she comes across as very reasonable, but her use of the term “half-sister” is a total non-issue.

They share the same mother - they are biologically half sisters.

I don’t understand why that’s so difficult to understand.

It’s not about how you feel or how close you are, it is biological fact.

Otherland · 29/05/2023 10:46

Op, your language really is very telling.
I'm fully on board with not remaining in contact with family merely because they are biologically related to us - I am NC with my mother and as a consequence of that fallout, my two full bio brothers are NC with me too - they are still my brothers and she is still my mother. I don't refer to her as my mum though - that is a term for someone in a good relationship with their child. But she is and always will be my mother.

I agree with the other posters who are calling you out on your dehumanising and abhorrent terminology.
You've also painted yourself as the golden one, and your sister as lesser than shit. To your mother, you are both her daughters, perfectly equally. You don't get more dibs on your mother because you've enmeshed your life with hers and her husbands and done stuff for her.

Whatever she did when she was 24, unless it was truly beyond like murder or abuse, can potentially be chalked up to the recklessness NZ foolishness of youth. Alternatively, it might not even have been that bad and you're just overly critical. You won't give specifics and I feel this is because you know it wouldn't warrant your treatment of your sister by most people's standards. I guess most people's standards don't matter, and that's fine - you are entitled to not have people in your life. But if you come on to a chat forum asking for help, people are going to want to help you, and perhaps re-evaluating YOUR role in this, right from 30 years ago when she was born and you were an unwilling big sister, how did that make her feel, what impact did that have on her personality growing up, knowing she has a big sister who despised and resented her whole existence. From how you write, it feels to me like you wanted your mother to yourself back then, and your feeling of entitlement to her has never changed.

I'm not saying your sister is a saint, no doubt she's caused heartache and more, but perhaps you we'd to consider your own contribution to the whole state of affairs.

I hope your sister can build a good relationship with her mother, and that her son grows up surrounded by love too. If your child and this cold are close in age, and neither have siblings, all the more reason to try to build bridges for the sake of the children. And I get that you fear she may pull away and leave your child without a cousin on good terms, but such is life. It's all a lesson for them. Show your kid you are compassionate and understanding.

Otherland · 29/05/2023 10:47

NZ= and

Meggymoo777 · 29/05/2023 11:54

So I really don’t know why this thread blew up so much but it’s actually gone so far beyond what I came here asking and is now purely about the semantics of the terms I use to describe this person. This will be my last post here and it’ll be a long time before I start another thread given to vitriol I’ve read here.

My question was around how unreasonable is it that I am upset that I now have to make space for this person and change how my life operates as a result of her most recent break up and needing support, financial and practical, from my mother after years of abusing and then ignoring her and keeping her from her grandson.

I’m not overly enmeshed with my mother, we are very close, we live close by, I pop in for a cuppa a couple of times a week and spend a day or evening at the weekend having dinner etc. i value our relationship and put a lot of effort in so that they know I love and appreciate them. I don’t think that’s abnormal?

To the poster saying I’m lying to myself that I’m happy and insinuating that therapy hasn’t worked for me. This is completely untrue. I have a lovely home, an amazing DC and family, great social circle, fantastic job, enjoyable hobbies. Literally couldn’t be happier with my lot in life and my investment of time, effort and money in therapy has helped in this respect. I've overcome a lot from the death of my father, abuse and sexual assault, I've worked hard to get where I am and to the poster saying this is a big lie im telling myself... frankly, you can fuck right off.

We had a great childhood, my father died so it wasn’t as if I was bounced around from man to man by my mother. I fell out with this person’s father, my step father, in my adult years. He was always a bit useless anyway and proved it to me when he chose to side with my DC father during our breakup as they were friends… despite the abuse I suffered in the relationship.

I was always a good sister to this person. I always referred to her as a half sister, as this is what she is. I moved out when she entered her teen years and it all went downhill from there. Drugs, drink, lying, stealing, violence and domestic violence that lead to ambulances being called and houses being trashed. Children now being raised who will never know who their real father is. I was still there for it all. As was my mother. But when does it end? When is enough? At what age do you draw a line and say this person is just a very very bad egg and is never going to change and you need to walk away? Like another poster said, if this was a half brother and he was beating seven shades of shit out of every single partner he had this would be a different thread. Im sure the calls to go NC and protect my mother from him would be numerous.

I walked away but watched my Mom continually pick up the pieces of this girls life, pay huge sums of money to bail her out only to be lied to, stolen from, hurt and abused and basically told to basically go fuck herself over and over. Which obviously became more hurtful when there was a child involved.

Of course I’m upset, upset that Mum is probably going to get hurt again, upset that me and my own DC now can’t just pop over and we have to share time and organise visits so that we don’t meet. All because of the whims of this girl that are purely down to the fact that she need bailing out, yet again.

Anyway, there it is, I don’t think I’m being overly unreasonable and I’m baffled with how this thread has gone. Won’t be back here, some of you really are out to kick a person when they’re down and should take a hard look at yourselves.

OP posts:
SerafinasGoose · 29/05/2023 11:56

@Meggymoo777, some of us have understood. I'm sorry you have taken such a kicking - it was undeserved - but hope at least you've been able to take out something positive and useful from the thread. Go well.

Meggymoo777 · 29/05/2023 11:59

Yes @SerafinasGoose - sincere apologies, a small number of posters have taken the time to read and understand and offer constructive criticism and actually address the question I asked with thoughtful responses and I should have thanked these posters in my final update.m, complete oversight on my part.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to understand the situation and offer feedback, it's very much appreciated x

OP posts:
bluebeck · 29/05/2023 12:00

You really can’t see that your mother is also her mother and that she needs her? You say your life is fabulous. Clearly your sisters life isn’t.

I don’t think anyone here is saying you have to have contact with your sister. But your nose is dreadfully put out of joint because your mother is giving her own daughter the time of day.

That is why some posters are giving you a hard time. You need to just get on with your own apparently amazing life.

TeaParty4Me · 29/05/2023 12:41

My question was around how unreasonable is it that I am upset that I now have to make space for this person and change how my life operates as a result of her most recent break up and needing support, financial and practical, from my mother after years of abusing and then ignoring her and keeping her from her grandson.

Your mum is an adult and gets to choose who she lets back in her life and how much time and energy she gives them.
You cannot control that.

You can control how much you play a role in it and I would be civil for my mums sake but I absolutely would not become too close with your sister again.

Getting to a stage where your children can play at family gatherings without any awkwardness between you and so your mum isn’t walking on egg shells around you both is the ideal scenario.
I would not be going on holiday or having regular meet ups, as there is no point and it’ll end in tears.

If you cannot cope with your mum being close to your sister then you may need to step back from your mum a bit so you are not dragged into the drama.

JackieQueen · 29/05/2023 14:46

Op 💐

Divorcedalongtime · 29/05/2023 15:20

Meggymoo777 · 29/05/2023 11:54

So I really don’t know why this thread blew up so much but it’s actually gone so far beyond what I came here asking and is now purely about the semantics of the terms I use to describe this person. This will be my last post here and it’ll be a long time before I start another thread given to vitriol I’ve read here.

My question was around how unreasonable is it that I am upset that I now have to make space for this person and change how my life operates as a result of her most recent break up and needing support, financial and practical, from my mother after years of abusing and then ignoring her and keeping her from her grandson.

I’m not overly enmeshed with my mother, we are very close, we live close by, I pop in for a cuppa a couple of times a week and spend a day or evening at the weekend having dinner etc. i value our relationship and put a lot of effort in so that they know I love and appreciate them. I don’t think that’s abnormal?

To the poster saying I’m lying to myself that I’m happy and insinuating that therapy hasn’t worked for me. This is completely untrue. I have a lovely home, an amazing DC and family, great social circle, fantastic job, enjoyable hobbies. Literally couldn’t be happier with my lot in life and my investment of time, effort and money in therapy has helped in this respect. I've overcome a lot from the death of my father, abuse and sexual assault, I've worked hard to get where I am and to the poster saying this is a big lie im telling myself... frankly, you can fuck right off.

We had a great childhood, my father died so it wasn’t as if I was bounced around from man to man by my mother. I fell out with this person’s father, my step father, in my adult years. He was always a bit useless anyway and proved it to me when he chose to side with my DC father during our breakup as they were friends… despite the abuse I suffered in the relationship.

I was always a good sister to this person. I always referred to her as a half sister, as this is what she is. I moved out when she entered her teen years and it all went downhill from there. Drugs, drink, lying, stealing, violence and domestic violence that lead to ambulances being called and houses being trashed. Children now being raised who will never know who their real father is. I was still there for it all. As was my mother. But when does it end? When is enough? At what age do you draw a line and say this person is just a very very bad egg and is never going to change and you need to walk away? Like another poster said, if this was a half brother and he was beating seven shades of shit out of every single partner he had this would be a different thread. Im sure the calls to go NC and protect my mother from him would be numerous.

I walked away but watched my Mom continually pick up the pieces of this girls life, pay huge sums of money to bail her out only to be lied to, stolen from, hurt and abused and basically told to basically go fuck herself over and over. Which obviously became more hurtful when there was a child involved.

Of course I’m upset, upset that Mum is probably going to get hurt again, upset that me and my own DC now can’t just pop over and we have to share time and organise visits so that we don’t meet. All because of the whims of this girl that are purely down to the fact that she need bailing out, yet again.

Anyway, there it is, I don’t think I’m being overly unreasonable and I’m baffled with how this thread has gone. Won’t be back here, some of you really are out to kick a person when they’re down and should take a hard look at yourselves.

I was re on who said that. You can’t even say her name or sister and you minimise her at every then, I do not think therapy worked as well as you think, no.

AliceOlive · 29/05/2023 17:07

@Divorcedalongtime

Funny user name to be casting stones about people who you think haven’t sorted out their shit.

Meggymoo777 · 29/05/2023 17:28

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Gatehouse77 · 29/05/2023 17:42

@Meggymoo777

I completely understand why you don’t want to use the prescriptive language that associates a certain level of emotional sentiment to it where there is none.

I speak about my father as just that and not ‘Dad’ because he’s doesn’t deserve it.

Gatehouse77 · 29/05/2023 17:44

And it comes about by learning, the hard way, to keep certain people at a distance. Doesn’t mean you haven’t dealt with it, just different.

SilverGlitterBaubles · 29/05/2023 20:03

Similar issue in our family OP. You cannot control your DMs relationship with her DD and while you might be protective of your DM you should step back and let her handle it herself. All you can do is protect yourself and your family in this situation and be there for your DM when needed.