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I feel like I hate my stepson

188 replies

ExhaustedStepmum · Yesterday 22:11

This may be long but i’m honestly really struggling now, this has been going on for years and I’ve had enough. Don’t say to leave DH as it’s not that easy.

I’ve been with DH for about 14 years, I have a DS aged 20 and a SD aged 28, and a SS aged 16.

I get on pretty well with SD although she moved a few hours away at 16 and was living with a family member to be able to attend a really good college in that area, she still lives there and we see her a couple of times a year but she doesn't come here much, she's said she's sick of SS and has referred to him as DH’s “golden boy” and has said he lets him get away with anything to which DH shuts the conversation down.

Their mum passed away when SS was a young baby and I think DH has over compensated and maybe spoilt him but I can tell he's also now getting fed up even though hes sort of to blame for the way he is. But SS says we don't like him

When growing up I don’t really remember him ever being particularly difficult although there were times we let him get away with silliness and answering back for example but he wasn’t an awful child , although he and ds have never been close and when he was younger would destroy his lego builds and they’d argue at any opportunity they got, usually with ss being the cause although DS very much got the “you’re older you should know better” from DH.

Things really changed when he was about 12 with constantly lying and stealing things (anything he got his hands on) being disrespectful at school and at home etc, DH somewhat blamed the school as it was in a bad area and at 13 he got him into a private school and he boarded monday-friday initially, he seemed happy there but at home his behaviour was getting worse and worse.

He began to shoplift when he had no reason to! He likely would’ve got whatever he wanted if he had asked and he wasn’t short on pocket money either (at the time but it did eventually stop), he stole my underwear to the point we had to have a lock on our bedroom door and after that I felt uncomfortable being around him tbh but I still don’t know if it was a “me” thing as in targeting me or if he just wanted underwear iykwim. After that DH paid for a private therapist but it was pointless because he lied the majority of the time and he can be believable which is the scary thing. He was watching some really explicit porn which we had thought we’d blocked on the wifi so i still have no idea how he got around it.

He ended up boarding FT and only coming home during holidays and while the holidays were hell, it was much better which sounds horrible to say. His behaviour at school wasn’t great though and he was permanently suspended at 15 for being caught with weed and there was alcohol in his room, he didn’t care but found it funny. It was a struggle but he started Y11 at a state school which was hard to find as no one wanted him and it was so late he couldn’t do his options. He ended up failing his GCSEs and he didn’t turn up to half of them

DH says it’s pointless even trying to get him into college as he wouldn’t go so said he could work with him except he was messing about with equipment and not listening which was unsafe so now he’s at home 24/7, he has the whole loft conversion to himself so he has a HUGE room and en suite but he still acts hard done by. He despises DH as DH was the one who found the porn and some of it was gay porn and during an argument about the porn in general DH said it was disgusting ans SS has twisted his words that gay = disgusting when DH was just extremely shocked and he probably was disgusted by what he saw because of how explicit it was. He shuts down any conversation regarding sexuality when we brought it up incase that was a reason for his behaviour (as in being worried about it i don’t know) he said he’s not gay and it was just something to watch and gets defensive and accuses us of calling him the f slur (which he actually uses but no one has!)

He spends a lot of time in his room, he smokes cigarettes and vapes but has no money and we’ve hidden our cards etc from him, sometimes he can just appear during a conversation with DH and accuses us of talking about him or saying something totally random that takes us back a bit like for example a couple weeks or months ago we were having a normal conversation about dinner and he came downstairs and out of nowhere asked DH if he wished he (SS) had died instead of him mum and because DH didn’t answer straightaway (because he was shocked, it was the first thing he’d said to him all day) he took it as a yes. But the thing is he never talks about his mum

DS lives here but he spends a lot of time with his gf and i worry he will not come over either when he moves out just like SD doesn’t.

His gf already feels uncomfortable around SS and has said she thought he had taken pictures of her but when DH looked through his camera roll he hadn’t, but today they came over for sunday lunch and SS was downstairs trying to wind DS up but he wasn’t getting the attention and then his gf asked him to stop staring and he made out he wasn’t and that she had a problem with him but then about 15 minutes later he was properly staring blankly at her and DS witnessed it and told him to stop it he did but he then was doing it AGAIN (i was cooking so wasn’t watching him) DS told him to stop being a creep but he still denied it but got up and threw a fork at DS then stormed off to his room. DH was outside and came in to SS storming off but he still went to his room to take him his food when it was done which i don’t agree with

Im just so exhausted with it all and apart from this myself and DH are happy

OP posts:
concertinacornflake · Yesterday 22:16

Has he ever had any emotional support, therapy?

It's very, very tough to lose a parent you never got chance to know.

Bookbears · Yesterday 22:22

16 or not, he sounds dangerous and if he isn’t dangerous now, he sounds like he will be in the future. I wouldn’t want him in my house and would be asking him to leave.

JLou08 · Yesterday 22:23

He's a 16 year old boy who's mother has died, he was shipped off to boarding school and is struggling with his sexuality feeling that his dad thinks he's disgusting. Three very major things there. On top of that his step-mother hates him. It does sound difficult for you but I doubt you are feeling anything close to the pain and confusion he is. Maybe keeping all that in mind will help you navigate this, he does need to be challenged when he does something wrong, but he also needs to be loved, supported to feel like he belongs and have people see and bring out the good in him.

cauliflowercheesey · Yesterday 22:26

I would also suggest therapy.
Sounds like he was a child grieving a parent and when he hit the rocky teenage patch, his remaining parent dealt with it by sending him away. (did the other children go to boarding school?) Maybe you don’t remember it that way, but the narrative he has constructed in his head is clearly that his father doesn’t love him. And you’ve said here that you hate him. So, I’m not surprised he is miserable.

everynowandthenifallapart · Yesterday 22:27

So he lost his Mum when he was a baby then his Dad had a new gf by the time he was two, then he showed the trauma through his behaviour and was sent away to school but it sounds like your son wasn’t also sent away.

So you and your son lived with his Dad while he had to be raised by his school, having lost his mother. Is that right?

neilyoungismyhero · Yesterday 22:33

concertinacornflake · Yesterday 22:16

Has he ever had any emotional support, therapy?

It's very, very tough to lose a parent you never got chance to know.

It's tragic and sad and awful abd life changing..I know, but you don't go round behaving like this young man.

MrsMcGarry · Yesterday 22:35

Go and get some fucking therapy for yourself and try to explore why you are so incapable of feeling empathy for a child who lost his mother and instead sent him away to boarding school whilst your son got to stay at home.

ThatJadeLion · Yesterday 22:36

So glad I never had to suffer a step mother. Poor kid.

Stompythedinosaur · Yesterday 22:36

So, a child you've parented since toddlerhood behaved badly, so you sent him to boarding school? And now he's even more of a mess emotionally?

Well I never.

MrsMcGarry · Yesterday 22:36

neilyoungismyhero · Yesterday 22:33

It's tragic and sad and awful abd life changing..I know, but you don't go round behaving like this young man.

You do if your stepmother and father have ignored the original trauma and instead compounded it by treating you differently from your stepbrother and shipping you off to boarding school as soon as you started being imperfect

ThatJadeLion · Yesterday 22:37

MrsMcGarry · Yesterday 22:35

Go and get some fucking therapy for yourself and try to explore why you are so incapable of feeling empathy for a child who lost his mother and instead sent him away to boarding school whilst your son got to stay at home.

Exactly.

FriendlyMedusa · Yesterday 22:42

This sounds incredibly tough, but I think you need to acknowledge that you and DH's methods have compounded his behavioural issues and start to undo some of that damage.

It's not too late to turn things around. Have you considered therapy as a family?

ExhaustedStepmum · Yesterday 22:45

My DS didn't board or even go to that school, he went to the state school SS originally went to. The school was never mentioned for him (private school in general wasn’t) and wasn’t mentioned for SS until DH somewhat blamed the school for his behaviour and thought the structure of the boarding school would've been good for him and the school was far away so it made sense for him to stay during the week and come home for the weekends rather than do the commute every day which would’ve meant leaving at probably 6am to get there for 8, he would’ve been exhausted. He seemed to enjoy the school though and his behaviour got worse during time at home and like I said on my OP and then when we asked if he wanted to board full time he said yes.

By the time he was at this school my son was already 17, so it was never an option for him to attend that school it wasn’t as simple as we sent him away and my son was allowed to stay at home

DH did pay for private therapy but like I said he lied the majority of the time to the therapist and he can actually be quite believable but other times not so much when he’s lie about outrageous things but the therapy was pointless as he wasn’t being truthful instead he would lie about small things and not engage in why he was really there

OP posts:
VisitingInkMonitor · Yesterday 22:51

My mum lost her dad at 4 and was sent to boarding school at 7 - it’s fucked her life up and she’s 82. Pretty shit parenting you and your DH have done there. Staggers me
that people can’t see the damage they inflict on kids. Very telling your DH’s DD got packed off to live with another relative as well. He’s not a great father is he.

MrsMcGarry · Yesterday 22:51

Yeah, it’s alright. We don’t need you to clarify. We understood that your son was able to live with his mother his whole life.

And that you didn’t even think of getting him therapy until his behaviour started being a visible problem to you, at which point you sent him away.

and he’s still only 16. His mum died this century. When there’s been so much support available through charities and even the NHS for kids who suffer childhood loss. My Mum died 50 years ago and there’s some level of excuse for my dad and stepmother not knowing how this can fuck kids up. Apart from complete emotional inadequacy what’s your excuse?

LucyLou72 · Yesterday 22:55

Poor kid.

cauliflowercheesey · Yesterday 22:59

Liking the school and behaving there doesn’t mean that sending him was a good idea.
If he felt rejected by his family, it would be natural to act up when he is back with his family. The trauma is to do with the relationships he has at home, not with school. That’s why you see the behaviour at home.

I’m surmising here, but I’m probably not far wrong given he’s asked his father if he wishes he were dead.

Did your DH go to boarding school? Or have a dysfunctional upbringing? His decision making sounds very emotionally uninformed.

BunkBedsArePeopleShelves · Yesterday 23:00

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Azandme · Yesterday 23:01

Behaviour is communication, and he is communicating that the adults in his life have completely and utterly failed him.

Your DH is a disgraceful father, and you're not much better.

I could sit and type out the impact of trauma on young people, but I'd be wasting my time because anyone with even an ounce of empathy wouldn't have contributed to this.

Poor kid.

cauliflowercheesey · Yesterday 23:04

The other. thing I’d say though is that even the most loved and cherished 16-year old can feel messed up, hard done by and act up. It’s what hormones do to them. I was a terror and had no right to be at all!
Cut him some slack. He’s still growing up. He’s had more than his fair share of hard knocks. He’s not a man yet, he’s still a kid, at the most confusing time of life.
Shower him with love and reassurance alongside fair boundaries and guidance that come from a place of love and not hate (if you can. If you can’t, as others have said, maybe look into some therapy for yourself and DH and maybe the whole family).

Chunkybabythighs · Yesterday 23:07

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outerspacepotato · Yesterday 23:17

Your husband's wife died and when there were issues and not an insta fix for all that trauma and teenager angst starting, instead of being a present parent, your husband shipped him off and not somewhere nearby. Your stepson basically had no parent while his dad played house with you and your son. His daughter moved out not too long after your arrival on the scene.

No wonder he is messed up.

Your husband fucked up as a parent and now you get to find out.

Are his mom's relatives in the picture?

spirah · Yesterday 23:20

SS needs a taste of the real world Imo and needs to move out/ fend for himself and learn how good he has it at home.

I would seriously be giving him an ultimatum of he finds a job/ college etc and stays - if not he has to go.

Sometimes the only way out of things is to see how bad things are the other side.

I think your DH should go to therapy with him as it may make SS go but it also sounds like DH has been an enabler and they both need to work this through.

I do think you’re right though- your DS is probably keen to move out asap and won’t want to come back and visit. It’s sad that dsd doesn’t want to come back.

saraclara · Yesterday 23:24

Sorry, OP. You're a step-mother, so almost everyone will judge you for struggling with a teenager who steals, watches extreme porn, and leers (and goodness knows what else) at your son's girlfriend.

Anyone else on this board who found that a teenaged boy was stealing their underwear, would be freaked out and totally supported here. Especially if it was their son. But you're a step-mother, so...

Bananaramahammock · Yesterday 23:24

I'm sorry OP. MN utterly dispises step mums and they just like to pile on with the abuse rather than offering any support.

Unfortunately I don't have any advice for you but it sounds like it's very difficult for you all and you all have my sympathy 💐