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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

5 Teens/YA in one house - fall outs

5 replies

almosthalfadozen · 30/08/2024 17:20

I'm feeling very very overwhelmed.
Context first, I have 2 children from my first marriage, both boys, they are 14 and 16.
My husband has 3 children, twins boy/girl from his first marriage who are 21 and a 16 year old from his second marriage.
We have been together for 8 years, lived together for 6 and generally had no issues.

We are an international family, my husband is French, raised in France to one French and one British parent. I have German parents but grew up a 3rd culture kid, mainly in the UK though.
His children add a new layer of complication, his first wife is Russian, when they split she took the children to Russia, raised them there (he got them in the the summer etc.
His second marriage was to French woman but they lived in the UK.

For as along as we have lived together all but his daughter have mostly lived with us. His eldest son boarded but stayed with us on weekends etc. His daughter went to a boarding school in Switzerland separate from her brother and always went back to her mum for holidays. So really we don't know her that well. The older two both had 2 gap years so although they are 21 they are only going into their 2nd year of uni. In the gap years they lived all over (family in France, travel, Russia etc.) So really for the last 3 years it's just been my 2 boys and DHs youngest who are all very close.

Both his older children are at uni in London where we live, last year they stayed in halls but this year it was decided they'd move back here. This is the first time his daughter has stayed with us for more than 2/3 weeks so it's an adjustment. Luckily we have enough rooms for everyone to have a room each and as his daughter took the downstairs room which was a guest room/office she also has her own bathroom.

They moved in at the start of August and it's been horrendous!!!

Issue 1 is his daughter refuses to speak English, claiming she can't. DH and all his children speak French, his twins also speak Russian and we all speak English. She will only speak Russian and French. She is perfectly fluent in English (well enough to be at an English uni!), although it is her "3rd" language. This means it's impossible for me or my children to have a conversation with her (we speak English and little German but no French or Russian!). It creates an atmosphere and I think it's rude!

Issue 2 all of a sudden the boys argue a lot, over stupid things like who's watching what on the TV, or who was meant to put the dishwasher on, again creates an atmosphere.

Issue 3, stepdaughters room was a guest room before so hasn't been decorated in a while, it has wallpaper which is far from modern but other than that we got a new bed and gave money etc. to sort everything else, she complains to her dad about it all the time.

And the big one money. We give all our 3 under 18s £30 a week, this is for seeing friends etc. we get clothes and shoes, all the food. We don't give the older 2 anything, we give them a home and buy gifts/food. Step son has gotten a job to have spending money but stepdaughter just goes crying to her mum and step dad who basically give her thousands a month. It's creating resentment. He thinks we should make it up to him as his mum and stepdad won't!

The other big issue is just with the older 2 and partners. They are both single and have on several occasions brought one night stands back. With stepdaughter this isn't confirmed as her bedroom is off a small back hall with a side door and its own bathroom so much easier to sneak people in and out but we know step son has and he claims she has too.

Anyway, I can't do this for 2+ years! It's awful and toxic. Stepdaughter has gone to New York for a week and even just the peace of her not nagging about the room and never wanting to speak English has eased it up!
But the boys still bicker, money still comes up etc.

AIBU to go to DH and say the older 2 need to leave and I don't care how we make it happen, maybe we have to pay for halls or a flat again but I don't care it's so rude and tense all the time.

Or is this just being a step mum?

OP posts:
KreedKafer · 30/08/2024 17:33

I feel really sorry for both the adult kids, to be honest. They've spent their lives going backwards and forwards between countries, parents, step-parents and boarding schools and their father is on his third wife. Honestly, I'm not surprised things aren't harmonious. If I were them, I wouldn't be inclined to want to build up much of a relationship with (another) stepmother and stepsiblings, either.

I also think that if your stepdaughter doesn't want to speak her third language at home, that's entirely up to her. To be honest, it sounds like they feel very much like they're being treated as just a pair of lodgers rather than part of the family, and are behaving accordingly.

her mum and step dad who basically give her thousands a month

If she has an income of thousands a month she can rent a place herself. Or her (apparently very wealthy?) mother and stepfather can rent a place for her and her twin brother to share, then. I don't really understand why it's been agreed that they'll live with you.

I completely understand why you're at the end of your tether, and in your situation I would be going crazy too, but I think this awful mess is wholly of your husband's making.

Ponderingwindow · 30/08/2024 17:44

Did they want to move into the family home instead of living in student housing? was this a cost cutting measure by dad?

It shouldn’t really surprise anyone that randomly dropping in two young adults into a household isn’t going to go smoothly. Especially when those two young adults are going to come with baggage about their upbringing and difference in treatment between various children.

I wouldn’t want to speak my 3rd language at home. I would want a break after having to use it all day.

as for the nighttime guests, I do think it’s reasonable to put your foot down. It’s a family home and random people shouldn’t be staying over.

which brings things back to, perhaps family relationships would be better with student housing and a weekly meal.

Spiderwmn · 30/08/2024 19:29

Doesn’t the fact she doesn’t speak English mean you can cop out a bit. Leave her to get on with it. She has her own bathroom and door leave her to it.
Can the teens take turns choosing tv, have a rota. A second tv in another room.
SSons issues with his DM and step dad are nothing to do with you.
Can you get out more, get a cleaner etc to make your life pleasanter.

almosthalfadozen · 30/08/2024 20:14

Ponderingwindow · 30/08/2024 17:44

Did they want to move into the family home instead of living in student housing? was this a cost cutting measure by dad?

It shouldn’t really surprise anyone that randomly dropping in two young adults into a household isn’t going to go smoothly. Especially when those two young adults are going to come with baggage about their upbringing and difference in treatment between various children.

I wouldn’t want to speak my 3rd language at home. I would want a break after having to use it all day.

as for the nighttime guests, I do think it’s reasonable to put your foot down. It’s a family home and random people shouldn’t be staying over.

which brings things back to, perhaps family relationships would be better with student housing and a weekly meal.

Tbh I don't know. I think step son did and stepdaughter got forced into it more or less.

I don't understand the money situation but she has no motivation to work and we get a delivery here for her more or less everyday. We are told mum got it.

I do think it's rude she never speaks to us basically and her excuse is not wanting to speak her 3rd language. Fair enough if she speaks to her brother in Russian (though his Russian isn't actually great) and her dad in French but I do think it's rude to exclude most of the home from conversations.

OP posts:
Octavia64 · 30/08/2024 20:36

She's basically an adult living with "family" that she barely knows (her dad) and her dad's third family.

In her position I wouldn't be putting in much effort as her dad clearly doesn't value her or her company and I certainly wouldn't be wasting time being nice to a third family when the odds are there will be a fourth.

Why on earth is she living with you? She barely knows you all and has very little incentive to play nice.

I can't imagine for a minute she wants this. Can't dad afford halls or a flat?

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