Hello All,
I would be really grateful for some advice on this. I'll try and keep it short but I have been with DH for 5 years and met him when SD was 8 months old so I have been in her life pretty much forever.
We have what I think is a pretty good 'blended family' situation. SD is with us 2 nights a week, including one full weekend day. DH's partner won't come into our house (they did it up together and she really loved it) but is happy for me to come in and have tea at hers and I helped organise SD's birthday party this year with her. We also often have her to help out her Mum if she is working or away etc. We also do the odd thing altogether, like going to the circus etc. DH, Me, DD, SD and SD's Mum and even once with SD's Mum's Mum so I think things are pretty good.
SD is not an easy kid, she is 6 but still has massive tantrums and can be really disruptive and she is used to getting her own way so when she is here she takes over a bit and so honestly, because I work 4 days a week, I want the odd holiday just on our own so I can spend some proper time with my own DD. I know that sounds mean but there it is. DH and I promptly had a massive row and he kept saying that this was her family and we should have her as much as we can no matter what and he said I should love SD and want to be with her as much as my own daughter. I said that she has a Mum and I doesn't need a replacement for her and that I love her and I think we are doing pretty well but he wants more.
Recently SD has been upset at nights and this evening she finally told DH that she wants him to spend time with her and her Mummy doing things with just them. I completely freaked out - surely this is totally the wrong thing to do? He thinks it will make her happier - I think it is going to send completely the wrong signals and make things worse in the long run. It's not as if she remembers them being together so this would be an entirely new thing and I fundementally think it is totally the wrong thing to do. I could entirely understand him maybe picking her up from school an extra day a week and doing something special with her but to do something with her and her Mum is just wrong isn't it? Am I being unreasonable? Perhaps I should have posted it there instead!
Can any of you help?? Also is there a good book on how to do step parenting? It is VERY HARD.
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Advice on DH spending time with his DD with her Mother at DD Request
PoisonedApple · 18/11/2012 22:06
We will have to agree to disagree on what is best for the children, or perhaps all children are different and there is no one right or wrong way? 
What you suggest would have been detrimental to my DD and from what the OP has said, it's quite possible that it would be for her DSD, too.
Hi OP
Sounds to me like you are doing a brilliant job. You also sound thoughtful and very caring towards your DSD.
I totally take your point that DSD has never known the scenario of her two parents being together - why suddenly start now? Surely a bizarre message to send. You often interact as a blended family together, and, as I say, you sound really happy to do so and laid back about this in a very positive way (I don't know if I could be so 'generous')
I also totally get that you want to go on a holiday with your DH and your DD - I really don't see why not? It seems to me that because you have been so accomodating it is now working against you and causing problems. I think you need to put your foot down.
You sound like a lovely SM and are juggling everything much better than most people I know (or I) could do.
Good luck 
Oh I'm always willing to agree to disagree However, I'll just say this, most of us I reckon wouldn't bat an eyelid at going for lunch with a business colleague or a mere acquaintance to discuss something or other if it made logistical sense so why should it be such a big deal to meet for lunch say, once a month, with your child and his/her other parent to talk to and about the child in relaxed surroundings. What sort of message does it give to the child if the two most important people in his/her life can't spend that amount of time together without it being a big deal?
The OP has said that her DH thinks it is a good idea and would help his DD. She is his child after all, surely his opinion matters more than the OP's, or anyone else on this thread, in this case?
frantic I think it depends what the motive is.
In this case, the OPs DP thinks it is a good idea because it is what his DD wants. Neither parent proposed this or identified it as a good way of doing things - the DC has asked for it to happen, because she wants to spend time with them together - not because she wants them to improve their co-parenting relationship
This isn't about good parenting, it's about fulfilling a DCs desires.
If two parents decide it works for them, and engages the DC in the process, then that is good parenting. Going along with what a DC wants to keep them happy is a recipe for parenting disaster.
I don't think anyone on here can presume to know why the OP's DH thinks it's a good idea! 
He hasn't posted on here, we are getting this information second hand. If the SD is disruptive and does have regular tantrums it's always a possibility that it could be stemming from a deep seated sense of insecurity which some time alone with both her parents might go some way to addressing? I don't know but neither do you or anyone else! Only the SD's two parents can make that decision and it is a decision they should make without input from anyone else. When you marry someone with children by another partner you have to be prepared for the co-parenting to carry on if possible for the sake of the child even though the relationship between the two parents has broken down. We are talking about a 6 year old little girl ffs! Some people on here are reacting as though she is a conniving, underhand adult with an agenda! The insecurities/jealousies/neediness of a disinterested adult should never be allowed to get in the way of two adults deciding what is best for their child.
How do we know that the OP's DH won't consider it? Because she has said he wouldn't? 
We don't know anything really except that the little girl has asked for some time with her parents together and her dad has said, "ok" and the dad's wife has said, "no way". We don't even know if the girl's mother is ok with it!!!. We can glean from the OP that she is not particularly fond of this little girl, that she finds her disruptive and a nuisance and is quite happy to go on a family holiday without her! Again, when you marry someone who already has children you have to take that on board. You can go away for time alone with your OH but very difficult for a father to apparently favour one child over another by taking one on holiday and leaving the other behind!
I disagree that anyone is, "best placed" to assess what criteria are behind another person's decisions about anything. Only the person making the decision can say for certain. Another person can question them and make them think and reflect but that's about it really! To presume otherwise is the road to folly.
I still maintain that the OP should trust her DH to do what he thinks is best and, if it is a mistake, it is his mistake and no-one else's. If there is such a lack of trust between them that she thinks it might lure him back to his ex then she has a problem far beyond the immediate one of her SD's behaviour/state of mind/demands or whatever. If she just, "doesn't like the idea" well tough, it's not her call. Sorry if I sound harsh, I don't mean to be I just hate it when people seem to expect small children to behave like adults! 
OP - sorry for the hijack
With regard to play therapy, Unless your DH is prepared to agree, then you can't do anything - but given your DSD's behavioural problems, I'm sure the school or GP would be able to help if he does change his mind.
Disney I think it depends upon how old the children concerned are and how they are adjusting. My children are all grown now and make up their own minds to a great extent about what they want and don't want to do. My Ex had arranged a long weekend break to Barcelona with all three of them but the eldest got an invitation to do something else with friends which she preferred to do, so she didn't go.
I think it's very difficult when children are very small, as in this case, and when the, "treat" is involving the non-resident parent. From the information we have, and we can only ever assess on the information we have, it would seem that the DS in question is certainly having some problems atm with the fact that her parents don't spend time on their own with her while her half sister's parents live with her 24/7. Her behaviour and the, seemingly to many adults, strange request seems to point to her having some real security issues and I, personally, have problems with the attitude that it's ok for an adult, in this case the OP, to put their wants ahead of the emotional needs of a small child. I also have a huge problem with step parents interfering with what a partner wants to do for their biological child. I'm not an expert but it seems that something has to be done to help this little girl, whether that involves play therapy and some kind of professional intervention or not, I don't know. But I don't like the attitude that seems to be coming across from the OP that her DH being in any way involved with anything that she isn't happy with is a, "no, no" And that she is having her holiday and, "sticking to her guns" over what she wants no matter what strikes me as very odd and not the attitude of someone who genuinely cares.
I have, unfortunately witnessed first hand the anguish of children, left out, while parents get on with their new lives and families and put demands of their new partner ahead of the needs of their own children. Can't go into details as it didn't concern my own children but the children of a relative so... but it was all very sad.
All I can say is, my first reading of the OP I got hold of the wrong end of the stick and thought that the DS wanted a holiday with both parents. Since realising my mistake I have re-read and re-read the OP and subsequent posts from her and, with each reading, my sympathy for the OP diminishes.
Purple, if that was addressed to me, I don't have a, "notion that no-one can take holidays without all their children". I have said that what works for one family might not work for another. From what you've written, please forgive me if I'm wrong, it seems that you are in a blended family with, "your children" and, "his children"? Do you have any children together?
I notice your ex and his DW have a "new baby" and they have been away, I don't know how old your other DCs are but, certainly there is more than one of them and so no-one is being, "left out" on their own. Also, is the baby bf? I went on a long weekend to Rome with my ex when we were still married, not long after my youngest was born and we took the baby with us. The older two were not very happy about it but I explained that their little sister was being bf and that she couldn't do without me for three days as she would have nothing to eat, that they had had mummy's milk when they were babies and so it was only fair that she had the same and that she was far too little to be getting any benefit from the trip. They had a long weekend with grandma who organised outings and treats and generally spoiled them rotten. I don't think it would have been so easily glossed over if it had happened with my middle child and the eldest had been left alone though! 
I think there's a real difference between being, "left out alone" and being, "left out together" when kids are really little and the root of "jealousy" at this kind of age is some kind of insecurity.
Purple might just be that your DC are better emotionally balanced than the little girl in question, might be to do with their age or that children, in my limited experience, don't tend to see a baby as another, "person like them" until they become mobile and talkative! LOL I think 6 is a very difficult age and then on up to about 8-10 depending on the emotional maturity of the individual child. Old enough to begin to see and feel other kids being treated, "differently" not quite old enough to be reasoned with using, "adult" logic. All families have their own dynamic depending upon the individuals concerned and that is an ever shifting dynamic as things change over years. I think, as a general rule, that most blended families face more complex challenges than most nuclear families simply by virtue of the fact that there are more adults involved. It's much easier to come to an agreement between two people than between three or four! I just don't think, in this instance that a child of this age, exhibiting, "challenging" behaviour, should be more or less ignored and in being so, sent the message that her wants/needs are not as important as other people's. I question the point of view that she is just, angling to get her own way or has some sort of, agenda, as though she were a scheming adult with a long term plan. 
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