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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Dreading step-daughter coming home

879 replies

AquaAnsie · 19/12/2024 15:45

DH and I have been together for 7 years, married for 3. He has one DD, she's 24. I have 4 DC, DS is 26 then DDs who are 25, 23, and 20.
My two middle DC have autism, they have always really struggled with socialising and my 23 and 20 year olds live at home, my 25 year old lives 5 minute walk away.
My children and DSD went to school together, she was a year below my eldest DD and a year above my middle DD. My DD's really struggled in school, which wasn't made any better by bullying. DSD was part of the group who did a lot of the bullying (all very sporty, very pretty, middle class girls picking on those who hadn't quite settled, were from lower income families). DSD claims she was never the one doing the bullying but my DDs really struggle when she is around.

My 23 year old really struggles with her autism, she hates it when DSD is here, basically never leaves her room, she is very intimidated by DSD. DD also struggles with routine changes massively and is easily overstimulated.
When DSD is here, she plays music all the time, goes out with her friends and comes back at 2/3 am (she isn't loud but DD is a light sleeper and this will wake DD up and scare her to the point she won't sleep again). My DS also puts on an act when she is here, tries to buddy up with her BF and basically ignores his sisters and says they have to grow up.

Over the years there has been a lot of back and forth. We went out a walk one year and my eldest DD was complaining she was tired and DSD loudly muttered "if you lost weight you wouldn't be tired", she apologised but DD is very insecure so this has stuck with her (DD is a size 14/16 so not exactly big or anything, but DSD is a size 6 and very judgy of any overweight). In an argument about 2 years ago she also shouted at my DD's "You need to grow up, get a real job and stop getting my dad to fund your life". This obviously left sour taste but she again apologised.

DSD has a bit of a superiority complex, she is an Oxbridge grad, now doing her training contract for a law firm in London making crazy money for a grad (she's a couple years behind other her age on average as she did a gap year then a year abroad at uni). She looks down on my family as my DDs didn't go to uni (well DS did and he is the only one she actually gets on with).

On Sunday she and her boyfriend are coming back for a few days, they've only been dating since spring and her dad has met him but none of the rest of us have. As if DSD being home won't cause my girls enough stress, a total stranger in the house will make it 10x worse.

I just know their will be an argument, my DDs will get upset, DS will side with DSD as he thinks it makes him look smart.

DH never has any input, he thinks his DD can do no wrong, total princess in his eyes. He never outright agrees with her but he never tells her to say sorry or calls her out.

AIBU to be absolutely dreading her coming back even if it is just for 3/4 days? I find her so hard to be around at times!

OP posts:
AquaAnsie · 19/12/2024 17:32

AnonymousBleep · 19/12/2024 17:31

Why is the 25 year old (not autistic, from what the OP has said) only working part-time and why is your husband helping her with her rent? He seems to be going massively above and beyond to support you and your family. The absolute least you can do is put up with his daughter (whose home you're living in) for a few days.

My 25 year old is also autistic, I did say that. Part-time is all she can manage right now.

OP posts:
shutuporsaysomething · 19/12/2024 17:32

Gosh yes team DSD here. How can you compare her Dad funding holidays for her with him supporting you and all 4 of YOUR children? I also can’t see there is any evidence of her being a bully, if you really believed she had bullied your child you wouldn’t have married her Dad and forced your DD to live in her family home.
I can’t believe you suggested she stay in a hotel over Christmas and I’m glad your DH said no way. Also find it interesting that you dismiss your DS’s good opinion of her so easily because it doesn’t match your narrative.
I also think the mean comments from her are fairly understandable and mild given the circumstances and can you hand on heart say she has not experienced any unpleasant behaviour from your own DC’s? Your DD didn’t seem to have any problem publicly accusing her of being a bully at school over dinner.
Finally no it’s not on to say she can’t go out late or play music when she’s come back for a few days to see her Dad for Christmas. You do sound very jealous and resentful of her.

Zanatdy · 19/12/2024 17:32

Why aren’t you working full time OP? This guy is doing so much for your kids and you begrudge this girl a few nights with her dad. She wasn’t one of the bullies but someone who knew a lot of people. Surprised your DP puts up with this, hope he comes to his senses

Takoneko · 19/12/2024 17:32

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This is a fucking insane leap.

TwinklyOrca · 19/12/2024 17:33

AquaAnsie · 19/12/2024 17:31

DD will get the house, I will never go against that, for many reasons it is rightly hers. DH owns a rental I will move into if he were to die before me.

If dh dies, will she not own the rental & be your landlord ?

what will you do financially if you break up? Seems he funds the majority of your life ? And adult children’s ?

Uricon2 · 19/12/2024 17:33

Where's DSDs mother in all this OP?

Dweetfidilove · 19/12/2024 17:33

MN is a baffling place sometimes.

Under which sun did you think blending families with your daughter's bully would help her struggles 🤔?

UndermyShoeJoe · 19/12/2024 17:34

Uricon2 · 19/12/2024 17:33

Where's DSDs mother in all this OP?

I was assuming she was the reason for the inheritance and the house being rightly the step daughters.

In which case op is even more on an arse trying to keep her out of it.

recipientofraspberries · 19/12/2024 17:34

Now we’ve had “freeloaders”.

I should set up anti-autistic bingo for this comment thread.

(and before anyone assumes I’m projecting, I’ve worked since I was 16).

C152 · 19/12/2024 17:34

I am sorry to say it, as I can see how worried you are about your daughters, but I do think YABU. You're bringing up remarks your step daughter made 2 years ago, which seems a bit much. Granted, the remarks were rude and uncalled for, but she apologised. Has she made similar remarks since?

Your DSD should be able to come home any time she wants to, and she should also be able to bring her boyfriend with her. This is all pretty normal. It's really NOT normal to suggest that she stays in a hotel rather than the family home. I'd be pretty angry about you suggesting that, if I were your DH. It's also not your DSD's problem that your DD is intimidated by her. A 24 year old playing music and going out with her friends is also normal. And you admit she isn't loud when she returns. It sounds like she's acting her age (and the superirority complex is also a part of that) and you're being a bit too overprotective.

olympicsrock · 19/12/2024 17:35

I think you are being really unfair . How dare you suggest that DSD go and stay in a hotel at Christmas instead of coming back to HER home. I don’t think you are reasonable to expect DSD not to go out and return home late ( she is early 20s returning home for the holidays - this is NORMAL) . I don’t think she should not play music or listen with headphones either. This is normal behaviour. Honestly I think it is your kids that need to go away for a few days if they can’t cope with DSD coming home.
If she really was a bully to your daughter this needed to be addressed before you married her father.

AquaAnsie · 19/12/2024 17:35

TwinklyOrca · 19/12/2024 17:33

If dh dies, will she not own the rental & be your landlord ?

what will you do financially if you break up? Seems he funds the majority of your life ? And adult children’s ?

I will inherit the rental, which would then be passed to my children, she will inherit her childhood home. I have money from the sale of the house I owned with my ex which is currently invested. DH offers to pay for anything he does.

OP posts:
PiastriThePastry · 19/12/2024 17:35

shutuporsaysomething · 19/12/2024 17:32

Gosh yes team DSD here. How can you compare her Dad funding holidays for her with him supporting you and all 4 of YOUR children? I also can’t see there is any evidence of her being a bully, if you really believed she had bullied your child you wouldn’t have married her Dad and forced your DD to live in her family home.
I can’t believe you suggested she stay in a hotel over Christmas and I’m glad your DH said no way. Also find it interesting that you dismiss your DS’s good opinion of her so easily because it doesn’t match your narrative.
I also think the mean comments from her are fairly understandable and mild given the circumstances and can you hand on heart say she has not experienced any unpleasant behaviour from your own DC’s? Your DD didn’t seem to have any problem publicly accusing her of being a bully at school over dinner.
Finally no it’s not on to say she can’t go out late or play music when she’s come back for a few days to see her Dad for Christmas. You do sound very jealous and resentful of her.

Totally agree with all of this I’m afraid op!

Slobberchops1 · 19/12/2024 17:36

Something you should have thought about before getting with your daughters bully’s dad .

Uricon2 · 19/12/2024 17:36

AquaAnsie · 19/12/2024 17:35

I will inherit the rental, which would then be passed to my children, she will inherit her childhood home. I have money from the sale of the house I owned with my ex which is currently invested. DH offers to pay for anything he does.

Straight question, is DSDs mother dead?

InterIgnis · 19/12/2024 17:36

recipientofraspberries · 19/12/2024 17:26

I have found this thread so upsetting.

I’m an autistic adult who was bullied at school by people like DSD. Nobody would ever have believed the kids who were my bullies were like that. They’re all very successful now with wholesome personas. They used to kick me, call me names, humiliate me.

On this thread we’ve had so many excuses made for DSDs bullying behaviour. We’ve had people applauding her for shouting at a disabled person to “grow up and get a proper job”. We’ve had people saying the autistic DDs need to “suck up” being around their bully and that “mean comments aren’t that bad”.

I am upset because of my own experiences: I know that. I don’t know these people or the truth of what’s happening with them. But what I CAN see is bullying being minimised, and the flimsy veneer of autism awareness and acceptance slipping off completely. The jabs at these two autistic young women for not working/having progressed in education are sickening to see, but it’s not surprising to me.

The DSD wasn’t a bully to OP’s daughter, and making snide comments back to someone that’s making snide comments to you (given that OP’s DD had no problem picking a fight out of nowhere over dinner, she’s clearly not incapable of making them) isn’t ‘bullying’. It’s two people being mutually antagonistic.

UndermyShoeJoe · 19/12/2024 17:36

AquaAnsie · 19/12/2024 17:35

I will inherit the rental, which would then be passed to my children, she will inherit her childhood home. I have money from the sale of the house I owned with my ex which is currently invested. DH offers to pay for anything he does.

what have you done to secure your children’s future.

What if you die first.. what have you personally done since they all seem unable to support themselves.

Polistock · 19/12/2024 17:36

I suggest a hotel for DSD and DH said absolutely not, its her home and if she is coming home she will be welcome to stay here and in her own room.

Imagine your step-mum saying you should go to a hotel because her and all her (adult) children live in your childhood home, but somehow you're the dick.

Oyyyy.

Memyselfmilly · 19/12/2024 17:37

decorativecushions · 19/12/2024 17:23

I feel very sorry for your step daughter.

So do I! Her step mother just described her on a forum and a random has compared her to a serial killer and step mother says she ‘wouldn’t go that far’ instead of absolutely shutting it down.

being a teenage girl is fucking hard! Do you not remember? So what if she was friends with bullies - honestly those years were so hard you end up trying to survive the turmoil.

she sounds intellegent and successful. You sound like a jealous evil stepmother trying to kick her out of your home.

Tiswa · 19/12/2024 17:37

@AquaAnsie if no one else apart from you and your daughters see her that way it is likely that she isn’t. Mean and bitchy aren’t traits that hide and if it is just you then that says a lot

the problem seems to rest on bullying by association - something that I suspect neither was lying about - your DD saw her as being friends with the bullies and not standing up to them and your DSD just saw it as being friends with them. Standing up for that kind of behaviour is incredibly difficult at any age particularly the age she was

and there seems to be a shocking lack of awareness as to how difficult this would have been for her all these people coming into her house and her Dads attention - it is her home it will remain her home

FlickeringFairyLight · 19/12/2024 17:37

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TheBlueUser · 19/12/2024 17:38

Team DSD, I feel very sorry for her and I imagine she is dreading spending time with you and your DD's as much as you are dreading seeing her.

MrsJRHartley · 19/12/2024 17:38

MaryJosephandCherylnotJesus · 19/12/2024 16:16

Hang on, you married the father of your daughter's bully? What a way to make your daughter feel loved and cared about...

Yep.

BarbadosItsCloserThanYouThink · 19/12/2024 17:39

AquaAnsie · 19/12/2024 17:12

I suggest a hotel for DSD and DH said absolutely not, its her home and if she is coming home she will be welcome to stay here and in her own room.
DD2 doesn't do well away from home but DD3 can go to DD1's for a few nights.

You suggested a hotel for your DSD rather than her stay with her Dad she rarely sees in her family home! OP that is not reasonable of you at all.
She must know she's not welcome from the moment she arrives and feel pushed out. I would be bitchy in this scenario, I don't blame her.
She is unwelcome for a few days a year, and this entire other family have moved in, mostly don't work and freeload from her dad. You may not see it this way but that's how it sounds.

BefuddledCrumble · 19/12/2024 17:39

If a marriage and living situation was making my dc uncomfortable I'd divorce.

Or accept that 'leeching' off a wealthier man (as your op seems to suggest they see you and your daughters as doing) means you have to put up, shut up, and not defend your daughters.

You do you.