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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To book tickets to see same show as husband and step-daughter

246 replies

Tinogirl · 06/11/2024 02:07

Every year husband’s niece is in a pantomime and SiL buys tickets for DH and stepdaughter and the rest of the family but not me and my daughter. They then go to a Greek restaurant.

I am fed up of the exclusion so this year I am going to book tickets and a table at the restaurant for me and DD.

When I confront SiL she says that her kids don’t get to see step-daughter that often, and I said that my daughter won’t get in the way of them seeing her just by being there.

DH can’t see what the fuss is about and why I want to go.

DH thinks if I go ahead with my plan it will be embarrassing for me. I don’t think so.

OP posts:
mummybear35 · 10/11/2024 12:48

I wouldn’t! Why on earth would you want to go and drag your daughter along to an event that his family clearly don’t particularly want you at?? I’d just make sure I schedule something fun and exciting for you and your daughter to do on the same night! It’s clearly a tradition for them so just let them get on with it..what’s the big deal? It’s a panto not a family holiday 🤷🏻‍♀️

MyspecialMug · 10/11/2024 13:12

Please don't book tickets and a table. It'll be embarrassing for your daughter, wondering why you both aren't sitting with your DHs family.
Maybe SIL thinks you wouldnt be interested because your not close, tell her you'd like to attend and get to know your in-laws, if she's a decent person she'll say yes to joining them.

DonnaSummet · 10/11/2024 13:56

You sound unhinged no wonder you aren't invited

Scottsy200 · 10/11/2024 14:37

Your SIL sounds like a horrible bitch but your husband needs to grow a pair in all honesty and tell her that unless the rest of HIS family are included then he and his daughter won’t attend

Noglitterallowed · 10/11/2024 14:39

This is the epitome of embarrassing. Honestly who in their right mind would do this??? You will look like an insane stalker. Sounds like even if you were invited you’d be one to have a face on and be straight on here moaning about something they’ve said or done.

Noglitterallowed · 10/11/2024 14:52

You need to understand your child doesn’t need to be involved in everything

HomeTheatreSystem · 10/11/2024 15:42

To add to my last post, I think the fact that in 5 years you've failed to establish any independent friendships with members of DH's large extended family, means either, that they don't much like you OR that they have had, within the family, so many divorces, second spouses, step kids come and go, all exerting disruption and a heavy cost to wallet and heart, that they now expend no effort on "blow ins". Your DH might also be part of the problem, perhaps historically bringing a fair amount of unwanted chaos to the family door with his various lovers/girlfriends/FWB who had his child and now you. That's conjecture on my part but is another viable explanation for them keeping you at arms' length. They know what he's like; you, not so much.

Consistent throughout your 4 posts on the lack of specific invitations and engagement with you from various family members, you've said that they have no interest in you or your daughter. Your answer is there in black and white. They are not interested. Stop humiliating yourself and your poor daughter by your batshit pursuance of invitations that have not been extended to you for their own good reasons. Direct all that energy and effort you're wasting into cultivating relationships with your DD's family, not someone else's.

Harry12345 · 10/11/2024 16:42

HomeTheatreSystem · 08/11/2024 03:51

OP, a couple of posters mentioned a previous post of yours about the 2 girls not getting on so I had a look.

Since Christmas last year you've made 4 posts, all on the same theme of why you / your DD weren't invited to DH's family events and there are details in these previous posts which are relevant to what's going on between you all and why you initially came up with this idea of how to manage the latest exclusion from an invitation to the panto/Greek restaurant.

Your daughter has a mum and a dad already. She already has her own bio family. The lack of contact with her bio dad/paternal grandparents is for the pair of you to remedy for the sake of your daughter. It is insanity to think that just by dint of you and your DH marrying, you have the right to co-opt his bio family into treating you and yours like their own and including you in invitations. They don't. Their loyalty, first and foremost, is to their actual relative, your husband's daughter who deeply resents her step sister. If your marriage fails, neither you nor your daughter will see them ever again. Same for if your DH happened to pass away.

Have you tried putting yourself in his daughter's shoes at all? She was born of a liaison between your DH and a woman so not into a family situation where the parents are very much together. Fortunately, her dad very much wants her in his life and up until he moved in with you and his step daughter, it sounds like she stayed overnight with him a lot. Now its down to one night a month and the other 29 days she knows her much loved dad is playing happy families in a proper family home with another little girl and a woman who is not her mother. That is a deep source of pain for his daughter. Why would she want to rub her own nose in it by staying the night in YOUR house with you all. It's too much for her to handle emotionally.

While I accept the relationship with her dad isn’t the same as if they lived under the same roof I would argue that they are incredibly close given the unusual circumstances.

In your thread about the lack of wedding invitation for your daughter to the cousin's wedding at which DH's bio daughter would be bridesmaid, you even leveraged the fact your daughter sees him more than his own!!

Money and space isn’t an issue. DH is good to my daughter but doesn’t see why his cousin would see her as a niece but he sees my child more than the one who is a bridesmaid.

She has DH's large extended family which doubtless provides her with love, comfort and support as and when she sees them which sounds like it's not all that often (the panto in question) but you and your daughter want in on that too, despite knowing the pair of girls don't get on. The family know that and will not want to add in more upset for her than has already been the case, hence them not wanting to always include you/DH's DSD. You've said the girls don't have to interact with each other at these events which is laughable.

You really need to back off and to accept that the damage between you and DH's family has been done. You've been married 5? years now and it is evident from your posts that, quite aside from the above, you will have come across to the family as pushy and for that alone you have probably and irretrievably alienated them to the point where you are both tolerated under sufferance. They are very polite to you of course but they will be as you are their relative's wife. Whilst I'm sure they are an attractive family to be a part of you don't get to opt in because you like what they appear to offer. (I'm sure if they were a bunch of low life reprobates you'd be giving your DH every excuse under the sun not to see them, family or not). You really need to reframe their relevance to your daughter so that she understands that she has her own family, your DH's family are not her family, but more like friends, and there may be invitations from them that do or do not include her/you which is all quite normal. You need to work on this now because once the teenage hormones kick in for both girls, this situation is going to become intractable and I would not be surprised if with that pressure and your constant FOMO your DH gets monumentally pissed off and calls time on the relationship.

Maybe post a thread about how to go about building a relationship with your daughter's paternal side of the family instead of your misplaced fussing about not being invited to pantos or private school carol services or birthday parties or the lunches held by cousins you've never met returned from years abroad.

I totally agree that my daughter’s lack of relationship with her actual father has the potential to be more heartbreaking for her than her lack of relationship with her step-sister.

Step families are with very few exceptions an absolute minefield for everyone, but it's the children who are almost completely without agency in their creation, who suffer the most from the casually cruel way adults drag their offspring into their new set ups and abjectly fail to understand the impact it's had on them. Why do you think many parents opt to remain single or at least do not join households until their kids are moving on to their own independent lives? Marry if you wish but no one else has to like it.

All of this! I can’t imagine if my partner met another woman with a child and he was never allowed to go out with his child and his family without ever inviting his new partner and child. It’s so controlling and they’ve probably sensed that and that’s why they don’t invite you. Your daughter gets to live every day with your husband, his daughter deserves to have time on her own with her bio family without her step mom and sister there who by the sounds of it she doesn’t get on with

ThisZanyPinkSquid · 10/11/2024 17:56

Is your daughter also your husband’s daughter?

Candystore22 · 10/11/2024 17:59

You haven’t got a SIL problem, you’ve got a husband problem,

Harry12345 · 10/11/2024 18:48

Candystore22 · 10/11/2024 17:59

You haven’t got a SIL problem, you’ve got a husband problem,

Why because he wants to spend time with his daughter without inviting his step daughter who he lives with and sees every day. The 2 daughters don’t get on, why does ops feelings trump the step daughters

Findinganewme · 10/11/2024 20:58

The question is, do you feel as desperate for the inclusion as you are about to present yourself, and your daughter, being? You are SCREAMING desperation and a total distasteful attitude by doing what you propose. Your daughter will see and perhaps imbibe that, whereas I’d be teaching my daughter to held her head high, walk on and focus on finding her own joy.

If it were me in the position of being unwanted and uninvited, I’d be booking something else and somewhere else, with my daughter. Make your own happy memories, don’t focus on being on the periphery of someone else’s.

The real and very fundamental issue here, is your husband. Even if he paid for yours and your daughter’s tickets to the show, it would show his commitment to being a family unit with you and your daughter. He isn’t behaving as a part of your family. He’s the red flag, your sister in law is just an unpleasant red dot.

Doone22 · 11/11/2024 07:05

Buy tickets but for another night. Treat yourself to a lovely time but don't try and insinuate yourself here, it's wrong but your man is right. It's a bad idea.

helpfulperson · 11/11/2024 09:19

CosyLemur · 10/11/2024 08:51

Possibly because the OP has made a lot of threads about the relationship between DD and DSC stating that although DSC wants a relationship with DD; DD is horrible to them and doesn't like them.

Would you invite someone who is horrible to your niece or nephew?

I think this is the crux of the whole issue of repeated non invitations. Your daughter is not nice to your step daughter so you aren't getting invites.

What are you doing to improve the relationship?

Tinogirl · 11/11/2024 18:07

Hello again I wasn’t going to come back but there is a mini development.

People have run away with the idea that my daughter has been unkind to my stepdaughter; this is absolutely not the case. My daughter would have liked a sister type relationship but my stepdaughter has absolutely no interest whatsoever so ever in having a relationship with her.

To be fair to my stepdaughter she isn’t rude either. She is unfailingly polite.

My daughter is 10 and state educated. Next year my stepdaughter who is a year older and has always been educated privately will be going to a boarding school next academic year. The small age difference is almost wiped out by this. My stepdaughter seems years older.

Just as I wouldn’t want my DH and SD there every time I see my mother and brothers I accept totally my DH always puts his child first but I wish we could all celebrate occasions together with extended family but my in laws must feel that the mere existence of my daughter compromises my stepdaughter’s relationship with them. I think my husband feels this as well in spite of always being kind and generous with my daughter.

I did ask SiL if we could come to the panto but her response was that her children don’t get a chance to see their cousin that often.

Everyone is always polite to my daughter but there is not the warmth that is extended to the blood grandchildren and second cousins.

Anyway the development my daughter and I are going to the pantomime on another evening and niece will come for a pizza after.

OP posts:
T1Dmama · 11/11/2024 22:53

I can see both sides.
presumably your daughter lives with you and DH full time? Presumably his DD only comes for visitation and even then doesn’t get 1:1 with her dad??
I do often think it would be nice for dads to pick their kids up and spend time with them, minus their new partners and children… often dads see their children every other weekend and even then the children don’t get time solely with him…
Maybe the inlaws just want time with their niece / granddaughter etc and your DH without his attention being divided?
Does your DD’s dad see her?… does it bother you when he drags along a new partner with her kids? Does your DD ever say she wishes she could just spend time with her dad? Without with attention being divided between kids he lives with and sees everyday?!

ImNoSuperman · 11/11/2024 22:53

Why are you with a man whose entire family is only polite to your child? How horrible for her to feel like she is never accepted and only tolerated as the "other" woman's child.

Nanny0gg · 11/11/2024 23:02

ImNoSuperman · 11/11/2024 22:53

Why are you with a man whose entire family is only polite to your child? How horrible for her to feel like she is never accepted and only tolerated as the "other" woman's child.

Not overstruck on her husband's attitude towards her daughter either

CocoDC · 11/11/2024 23:04

Tinogirl · 11/11/2024 18:07

Hello again I wasn’t going to come back but there is a mini development.

People have run away with the idea that my daughter has been unkind to my stepdaughter; this is absolutely not the case. My daughter would have liked a sister type relationship but my stepdaughter has absolutely no interest whatsoever so ever in having a relationship with her.

To be fair to my stepdaughter she isn’t rude either. She is unfailingly polite.

My daughter is 10 and state educated. Next year my stepdaughter who is a year older and has always been educated privately will be going to a boarding school next academic year. The small age difference is almost wiped out by this. My stepdaughter seems years older.

Just as I wouldn’t want my DH and SD there every time I see my mother and brothers I accept totally my DH always puts his child first but I wish we could all celebrate occasions together with extended family but my in laws must feel that the mere existence of my daughter compromises my stepdaughter’s relationship with them. I think my husband feels this as well in spite of always being kind and generous with my daughter.

I did ask SiL if we could come to the panto but her response was that her children don’t get a chance to see their cousin that often.

Everyone is always polite to my daughter but there is not the warmth that is extended to the blood grandchildren and second cousins.

Anyway the development my daughter and I are going to the pantomime on another evening and niece will come for a pizza after.

Your husband is the problem here. He’s playing Disney Dad at the expense of your 10 year old daughter and nothing will change until he wants it to as his family thinks this is what he wants.

Your daughter is the younger child. She needs to be protected from this nonsense. If they won’t treat her like family there should be no attempt on your part to make her treat any of them as her family. That includes your husband.

You must begin to take her side.

ImNoSuperman · 11/11/2024 23:06

Nanny0gg · 11/11/2024 23:02

Not overstruck on her husband's attitude towards her daughter either

Exactly, poor kid is only 10. Kind and generous sounds like charity.

Ivymom · 12/11/2024 01:35

Tinogirl · 11/11/2024 18:07

Hello again I wasn’t going to come back but there is a mini development.

People have run away with the idea that my daughter has been unkind to my stepdaughter; this is absolutely not the case. My daughter would have liked a sister type relationship but my stepdaughter has absolutely no interest whatsoever so ever in having a relationship with her.

To be fair to my stepdaughter she isn’t rude either. She is unfailingly polite.

My daughter is 10 and state educated. Next year my stepdaughter who is a year older and has always been educated privately will be going to a boarding school next academic year. The small age difference is almost wiped out by this. My stepdaughter seems years older.

Just as I wouldn’t want my DH and SD there every time I see my mother and brothers I accept totally my DH always puts his child first but I wish we could all celebrate occasions together with extended family but my in laws must feel that the mere existence of my daughter compromises my stepdaughter’s relationship with them. I think my husband feels this as well in spite of always being kind and generous with my daughter.

I did ask SiL if we could come to the panto but her response was that her children don’t get a chance to see their cousin that often.

Everyone is always polite to my daughter but there is not the warmth that is extended to the blood grandchildren and second cousins.

Anyway the development my daughter and I are going to the pantomime on another evening and niece will come for a pizza after.

OP, at this point, I don’t think you and your DD will ever have the relationship you want with your in-laws. DSD isn’t going to see DD as a sister. It honestly seems like DH’s family is kind to your DD. You can’t force them to treat her the same as DSD. The relationship is different and you need to learn to accept that and teach your DD that. As long as they don’t mistreat either of you, there shouldn’t be a problem.

This can be a really difficult pill to swallow, but DH made the decision to marry you and become a father figure to your DD. His relatives did not make that choice. We may find it sad that they can’t see your DD as a grandchild/niece/cousin, but it is their choice.

You should invest your efforts into either improving DD’s relationship with your relatives or her paternal family or create a friendship network of chosen family.

Be aware that you can come across as pushy and entitled. I’ve read all of your posts and it is clear that you are struggling to understand the boundaries DH’s family has. Blended families are complicated at best. Unfortunately, the children are the most affected with the least amount of input when their parents make the decision to marry. Right now, the kindest thing you can do for your DD is to teach her to accept other people’s boundaries, especially DSD’s.

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