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Step-parenting

Connect with other Mumsnetters here for step-parenting advice and support.

Step parent support thread

532 replies

Narwhalelife · 29/03/2022 12:53

I wanted to start a step parent support thread. I have been a step parent for 14 years now. We have had the full gambit (!) so i am pretty experienced Grin I also have a DD with DP.

I am appealing to other step parents to be open about their experiences and share in the highs and lows because it can be a taboo subject (the voice of step parents).

This is not a thread for ex wives to bash new partners or to insinuate that all step parents are evil and hate step children and other nonsense I have seen as a lurker on this site.

It’s for advice, chance to vent and just discuss the curious situation of falling daring to fall in love with someone that had children before you met ❤️

OP posts:
Youseethethingis1 · 26/06/2022 15:08

Ugh don't get me started on Christmas. My DH thinks it's ok for me to pay for everything for our DS while he spends hundreds on DSD, completely ignoring the fact that anything she likes will go back to her mum's house to join the sickening mountain of presents she got there, anything she doesn't like will go into the already groaning cupboard in her room at our house never to see the light of day again, meanwhile she will return to her iPad and every so often huff that she is bored. What is even the point?
🙄

FishcakesWithTooMuchCoriander · 26/06/2022 15:35

Yes. Every so often there’s a thread that attracts them all. An emotionally challenged knobs is a great description. Then some of them scour the board looking for more SMs to put in the their place.

However, if one is looking for entertainment, the bonkers thread in AIBU about being invited for a meal is quite special. Makes no sense.

pitchforksandflamethrowers · 26/06/2022 17:03

@Youseethethingis1 sounds like your DSD is like mine tbh.

Much huffing she opens it and then ignores it. These aren't cheap presents either !

@FishcakesWithTooMuchCoriander ohh what's the title on the aibu ? I could do with some entertainment.

Frankly my life has been a three ring circus last 9 days so I'm quite eager for the distraction. Before the circus 🎪 starts again 😵‍💫😵‍💫

FishcakesWithTooMuchCoriander · 26/06/2022 17:11

I can’t find the AIBU now. Some humourless admin must have deleted it.

it was excellent. Clearly some sort of AI project banging on about vegans and steak. Apparently they couldn’t digest anything but meat. Real meat. Not the host’s meat.

and some rubbish about being an it professional who finds junk food confronting.

It was, in reality, quite similar to the grandma’s meal thread in that it made no sense. It’s just that it was the responses who seemed to be anti-SM bots with limited capacity to engage, rather than the OP. 🤣

Youseethethingis1 · 26/06/2022 17:13

@FishcakesWithTooMuchCoriander
Absolutely not, DSD is a good wee soul, she just gets more "Stuff" launched at her from all angles than any one child could ever want, need or be able to cope with, because there's supposedly something to make up for.

FishcakesWithTooMuchCoriander · 26/06/2022 17:20

I actually think it’s really cruel (and emotionally damaging) to treat a child like their life is intrinsically terrible and something they must be compensated for. It’s their family and their life. It’s how it is.

fixating on the poor wee waifs with the broken family is telling them it’s not good enough. That’s not a nice thing to do.

Actually, I’d say that having grown up being told that about his own family (by his mum who waged a massive parental alienation campaign against his dad and the evil SM who ‘broke’ his family) has absolutely ruined my husband’s chances of ever having any kind of healthy relationship with anyone, including his own children.

FishcakesWithTooMuchCoriander · 26/06/2022 18:20

I’m going to hide that thread. It’s triggering all the bullshit my H has thrown at me. The ‘package deal’ crap now.

except it’s a package deal for him, and I was supposed to be the kids club so he can fuck off and do what he likes.

Youseethethingis1 · 26/06/2022 19:14

I know, I feel like banging my head off a wall with all the idiots piling on at the end with "just tell your grandmother they are coming" as if it's in any way ok to tell the elderly host what will be happening, but of course they would eat their own eyeballs before they said " just tell the mother he got his dates wrong and can't have the kids".
It really is the dregs on that thread 😫

FishcakesWithTooMuchCoriander · 26/06/2022 19:20

I think the sight of SC renders people hard of thinking.

I’ve had my H blocked on my phone since Saturday afternoon. It’s been glorious. So much better when he can’t contact me at all. And he’s away with work next week too, so he’ll be too busy (it’s a conference abroad) to contact me.

Sometimes a bit of quiet is such a useful reminder of what you actually need. And it’s not that shitshow with his older children and his utterly bizarre, unprincipled and totally hypocritical attitude to them. Plus his utter selfishness.

stepmumspacepodcast · 26/06/2022 21:02

Youseethethingis1 · 26/06/2022 19:14

I know, I feel like banging my head off a wall with all the idiots piling on at the end with "just tell your grandmother they are coming" as if it's in any way ok to tell the elderly host what will be happening, but of course they would eat their own eyeballs before they said " just tell the mother he got his dates wrong and can't have the kids".
It really is the dregs on that thread 😫

Exactly this.

there’s a very popular parenting podcast called “parenting hell” but if I’d called my “step-parenting hell” it’d no doubt have been banned or something by now!

FishcakesWithTooMuchCoriander · 26/06/2022 21:10

Indeed, no one is allowed to admit that stepparenting can be hellish. Apparently you knew what you were getting in to.

pitchforksandflamethrowers · 26/06/2022 22:29

I swear down that thread is completely and utterly bonkers and makes me want to stick head in boiling hot water.

@stepmumspacepodcast ohh where's your podcast ? Would love a listen if only to not feel less like I'm living in some type of waking nightmare.

Stopandsmelltheflowers · 27/06/2022 15:48

@User39498 @SandyWedges

Well I’m up to chapter 6 with Stepmonster…
Honestly, I’m finding it really hard to read. It’s just so clear all the mistakes that we’ve made and how we’ve ended up in this shite. The main message I’m getting so far is that a strong marriage is the priority and I think that’s why I’m getting so angry reading it.
I mentioned what I was getting from the book briefly to my husband and he was a bit miffed by the suggestion that the adults come first.
He’s incapable of ever putting us first before his son because ‘he’s just being a good dad’.
It’s just never going to work is it?
It makes so much sense. All the little niggles we feel as SM’s, all the times we bite our tongues or are made to think our feelings can’t come first, if our husband is united with us then those issues can’t breed resentment.
Ironically, he suggested marriage counselling. I said I think our sessions would just go round and round in a circle about the same argument. I feel me and our child come second to your son, you feel like you’re trying to be a good dad. Waste of time and money if you ask me!

Youseethethingis1 · 27/06/2022 16:21

He’s incapable of ever putting us first before his son because ‘he’s just being a good dad’
I actually think this one sentence is basically the seed of so many step parents even existing in the first place.
If your relationship/marriage isn't strong then you are not building a strong, stable house for your kids to grow up in - you are building a house of fucking cards. The foundation is all important, but if you're too busy pissing about with the soft furnishings and super duper gadgets because that's what the kids like and telling yourself you are just being a good parent, your house will collapse. With your kid still inside.

FishcakesWithTooMuchCoriander · 27/06/2022 16:43

My H has explicitly blamed the stepmonster book for the demise of our marriage. Because the problem is a book that’s helped me to understand all the things that were and are making me miserable and making it impossible for anything to work. Not any of those things, such as his complete refusal to prioritise the relationship.

Ironically, he then lectures me on how women ruin relationships by being too focused on their kids and neglecting their husbands. And how kids are temporary and will grow up and leave and it’ll only be the poor neglected husband left (if he hasn’t fucked off by then).

Said by the man who consistently prioritises his older kids* over the relationship. In some really astounding ways. When I left him, he decided he didn’t care where the baby and I lived (we spent a weekend in homeless emergency accommodation and were about to be housed by the local authority when he moved out - because his solicitor will have made it clear the courts would prioritise housing us over him). Why? Because he wanted to have the house so he can have the most convenient EOW ‘access’ to those other kids. His infant son didn’t need anywhere to live (and certainly didn’t need a bedroom - his father said explicitly) because him seeing those other kids in the house was the ONLY priority. That’s only one example of what I’m talking about. It’s not subtle, is it?

  • except he’s not prioritising them. It’s all about his image as ‘the good father’. He doesn’t really want them and certainly doesn’t want the work and inconvenience. He wants the accolade (off the backs of my labour).
pitchforksandflamethrowers · 27/06/2022 18:59

@Stopandsmelltheflowers it is a painful read for most and I'm sorry lovely. More painful made by the fact that actually some men are just unwilling to do what's needed. How many thread do we see of a Sm who says my DH refuses to hold my hand or come near me when DSC are around. They aren't asking dad to do this, it's because dad has elevated them to a adult role and priority that no child can fill. If they get used to that level of control they actively think they can dictate and stop a relationship in its tracks.

@Youseethethingis1 nails it in one. The house of cards build under the guise of what's best for the kids but actually priorities their sense of guilt over actually having a normal parent relationship. Hard very hard.

@FishcakesWithTooMuchCoriander what did I actually read ? He didn't think you and new baby need to be housed ?! Wtaf. Christ has he changed at all since the split or still at it ?

Update so we are back home. DSD behaved impeccably on way back home. Like a different child. Most bizzare. Have a meeting with DSD mum this week to discuss. She was supportive on holiday to a degree... but I suspect that will change when DSD starts making stuff up. Lucky if nesscary I can say look my ex will take me to court re DD if I don't keep her safe and kick up a right fuss (rightly so in my book). My ex was a Bell end to be married to but my god he's got my back re co parenting, he said to make him the bad guy if it gets so heated. He's happy to ask DSM why she's allowed a child so much control she thinks it's ok to hurt babies and kids ect. It kinda makes all the stuff he did when we lost bubs a little less painful. I don't know why, I suppose some apologies are in actions less words.

Funnily enough me and DH feel closer now. Must be post holiday trauma bond.

FishcakesWithTooMuchCoriander · 27/06/2022 19:22

You know it’s bad when your pain in the arse ex seems to be getting it right and be the supportive one, @pitchforksandflamethrowers.

He’s just an unspeakable bastard. He’s here to see the toddler tonight. In the brief moments he’s not been blocked on my phone, he’s been a dick. He’s come in to my house and made it all about his other children. His ex called and he’s made a huge fuss about his awful I am. But he is literally only interested in our child as an accessory to entertain the golden children with. Why should I allow a video call from my son to his fucking ex’s phone? She’ll be holding it for his 5 year old. It’s not ok.

I truly hate the man. He’s been being nasty about a contact order. I’m going tk talk tk my solicitor tomorrow. He’s not coming in to my home any more. I’ve been trying tk do what’s best for DS. But no. It’s like he plans how to upset me in ways he’ll find it easy to twist around and pretend he’s a poor father who is just trying to do his best. He’s not. He’s a narcissistic bully.

FishcakesWithTooMuchCoriander · 27/06/2022 23:41

I have worked out something important tonight about why my awful husband is so especially toxic as part of a stepfamily.

It basically Teflon coats him. He gets extra victim and martyr points. Poor H. Doesn’t live with his children. Just wants everyone to ‘have a nice time’. Just wants to ‘be nice to everyone’.

Except he’s never nice to me. He doesn’t care about me having a nice time. In fact, he purposefully upsets me. He knows what things I will not cope well with, so he ensures he (quietly, while playing all innocent) hits all the trigger points repeatedly. If one doesn’t work, he keeps going.

Basically he’s like a nasty child who tortured a dog, but quietly, sneakily. Acting all innocent as he does so. The dog snaps and bites him and is put down. This is a double pay off for the awful kid: he’s managed to destroy the dog AND he gets all the sympathy as the poor victim of the nasty dog.

This is what I’ve been living with. SC are the perfect situation to enable him to torture me and drive me mad, all while convincing the world - and me - that I’m the problem. It’s gaslighting and it’s awful to live with.

He is a truly awful man. I truly regret that he’s my toddler’s father. My ex was pretty dreadful in various ways, but I’ve never regretted him being DS’s father. I do regret that I had a child with my H (not the child - who is so lovely - just the father). Even more than I regret having married him.

Stopandsmelltheflowers · 28/06/2022 10:04

@FishcakesWithTooMuchCoriander
I can’t believe he’d happily let you both leave like that so he could carry on contact at the house! That’s so heartbreaking for your shared DC. I also wouldn’t be agreeing to the video calling to the ex’s phone. That’s one hard boundary I always had in place, if husband was speaking to sc on FaceTime, he was never to show our child on it.
@pitchforksandflamethrowers
Im glad to hear you and your husband have come out of this feeling close and not fighting against each other. That’s a massive positive to takeaway from the situation. Have you figured out the contact plans going forwards?
I’ve put Stepmonster away for the moment. I was literally getting anxiety butterflies when I sat down to read it. It was a bit too much of a reality slap with my morning cup of tea.
From the parts I’ve read though, it’s definitely given me some clarity. I thought the me & shared dc vs husband & SS started as things went downhill before the separate contact came into play. It was there all the time though.
Every time I’d be watching tv and my husband would change the channel to whatever SC had decided he wanted to watch, without even asking me. Now I think, why didn’t I grab the remote back instead of sitting there fuming silently? Also, highjacking the tv in the evening so they could play games on the switch, meaning I’d either have to sit there watching or send myself to the bedroom.
Every time they’d be getting ready to leave the house and SS would excitedly ask over and over if it was just him and dad going out or would be and baby be joining them. My husband would choose not to hear this and it would happen on every outing. Again, I stayed silent.
Husband never sitting next to me until SS was in bed. There’s nothing to make you feel more like an outsider in your own home really.
I’ve been wracking my brains with how I can move forwards. I just have to accept he can’t put us first. Which in turn, means SS is never going to be able to return for contact here. At least I can put that to bed now and stop thinking of how we’d tackle that in the future. This morning I suggested that we trial him taking toddler for a few hours on the Sunday. On the condition that he’s either indoors at in laws or if they go out, mil must go with. I just can’t trust SS not to do something spiteful to my child and I need another pair of eyes on them. That, along with him coming back on a Saturday eve for a bit means I get a breather both days.
I shall be using this time to eat lovely food in peace, drinking tea that is actually still hot and doing whatever the hell else I like!

pitchforksandflamethrowers · 28/06/2022 10:28

@FishcakesWithTooMuchCoriander ain't that the truth. And speaking frankly he really was a 🛎 end with me when we were married. Never the less because he's on the spectrum I can almost predict how he will react to things.
That sounds massively hard, can you get out ? I get the quandary though because if you can't trust ss not to hurt DC then actually your in more control with DH. You have to be able to trust a partner or ex to not put your child at risk or f you were to split. So no answers but comdray.

@Stopandsmelltheflowers yes we have. I have flat out said never going on holiday with DSD again if he wants to go with her then he can go alone and won't be taking any of my kids. Re contact I have said DSD is not welcome on weekends days I have Dd and since DsS is a baby he will stay with me at all times when DSD comes that's if mum agrees to psychologists help for DSD.

We have a meeting later on this week with mum and DSD step father and if she minimises what went down I'm going to flat out say she's not welcome on contact weekends at my house period. DH will take DSD to carvan for those weekends. DH has said to drop the overnight contact during the week so we will be more EOW. DS will have limited with DSD and my Dd will have 0 contact. DH thinks she may have conduct disorder which is a pre curser for a adult diagnosis of something much more scary. That said with intervention we may drop that happening but it has to be both mum and dad on board with that.

The bottom line is both me and DH will not allow any of our children to be hurt. I will report back after meeting with mum.

😭😭😭 this is hard.

FishcakesWithTooMuchCoriander · 28/06/2022 12:10

That sounds so hard @pitchforksandflamethrowers. Really heartbreaking. I’m glad your DH is properly aware of the issues and you feel able you have such firm boundaries.

Our weekend of actual homelessness came about in a truly awful way. We had to leave in an emergency (the situation was dire) and went to my mum’s house hundreds of miles away. However, I needed to return here to start a job (after maternity leave) and have DS start nursery. I was trying to negotiate with the bastard that we’d stay in the house with him while he found an alternative.

But that would mean his contact didn’t happen in the house EOW (he’d have to make his own arrangements for one contact weekend, and I’d take the kids to my mum’s for the other one in a 4 week block). He’d only get one night a month with them in the house because we’d only be away on Saturday night because of work and school on Friday and Monday.

And his kids wouldn’t get a bedroom in the house. I’d take one of the rooms as my bedroom. The toddler would take the other. H would keep the main bedroom and his office to WFH. But he was absolutely insistent that they must have a bedroom each (to sleep in one night a month).

All temporarily while he found somewhere else to live. But he wouldn’t let us in the house at all. Not at all. We couldn’t stay at my mum’s any longer, we weren’t allowed in the house. We had literally no money because I hadn’t been paid yet (and he’d been financially abusing me on maternity leave). So the council had to put us in emergency homeless accommodation. His solicitor must have told him that any judge would give me and the baby and occupation order on the Monday or Tuesday - and he’d look like a complete bastard who didn’t care about his baby. He moved out during that weekend and left the keys with a neighbour.

And to this day he will pretend that I (sec my mother!) are the villains. And that he wasn’t prioritising seeing his other children in the most convenient way possible to him (and therefor his superdad image!) over us.

SS wasn’t here yesterday (never is). H spent the weekend with the SC and did a school drop off this morning. It appears that H was horrible to SS about not being able to ride a bike. So his mother must have taught him after school today and then called H so he could tell him that he can.

But from my perspective a man who literally always prioritises the SC over our child (if there is ever any competing interests, he’ll choose the SC every time) turned up in my house and within 5 minutes was having a go at me because he wasn’t having a video call with his son (via his ex wife) - in my house, with our child involved. The son he saw that morning (unlike our child).

Of great relevance here is that: 1. H had decreed that he was bringing food for dinner - for him, the toddler and me. My DS was home (always is on Mondays) so H was purposefully excluding my DS in his own home (I’d taken remedial action there by teaching DS to make a meal he loves, so we made his meal together and had a lovely time). The man always banging on about how his children must be ‘accepted’ (which means put on pedestals and prioritised as far as I can tell) was actively excluding my DS in his own home. 2. H hates my ex. He is always complaining about him and tries to tell me that DS should never be dropped off by his dad at my (DS’s home). He’s supposed to walk in his own or something. And here is that man insisting that a video call from his ex in my house (with my child involved) is reasonable. And I’m awful for having a problem with it.

long winded, but the point is that I’m utterly sick of H not even prioritising our child when he doesn’t have the SC. I’m sick of his blatant double standards. I’m sick of him acting and manipulating to make me the bad guy. I’m sick of not being able to keep him first family from being the primary determinant of what happens in my own home, that H does not live in. The man is a bastard.

Youseethethingis1 · 28/06/2022 12:28

Oh I think at this point I'd be working on my tactics to keep this man out of my child's life @FishcakesWithTooMuchCoriander
Might as well be hung for stealing a sheep as a lamb, if he thinks you're the wicked witch of the west then earn the title and protect your kids from this toxicity!
I really be believe that a father like that does more damage than no father at all, which is not something I would be say lightly.
What an utter bastard he is.

pitchforksandflamethrowers · 28/06/2022 12:37

@FishcakesWithTooMuchCoriander I cannot believe what I have just read. My family is filled with lawyers and the ones that deal with family law all have aged fair quicker than the ones who don't. Some of the story's I was told about really highlights that your not alone dealing with people akin your H.

He sounds like a narcissist. I'm so sorry your having to deal with all of it. The video calling is mental, the financial abuse when you were on may leave is just horrific. Have you looked into the freedom program ? I would strongly recommended you get a therapist so you have someone in your corner that you can speak to because this must and seems to be continuing a awful pattern.

Him and his ex wife can have the disfunction but remember your not a object, you don't have to be told what to do and just because you have a joint child doesn't mean you do not have some control here. Even if he tries to stamp on it at every chance he can get ! Sending hugs !

FishcakesWithTooMuchCoriander · 28/06/2022 13:17

its pretty bad, isn’t it?

He’s literally impossible to deal with. His thought processes are so screwed up. You’re right, I do need someone in my corner.

On the plus side, I just got a letter from HMRC who apparently owe me nearly £1k. So that’s an unusually nice interaction with HMRC. 🤣

Themadcatparade · 28/06/2022 13:39

Hi everyone, I thought I’d post here to vent and ask for other step parents advice because it’s a weird one again, and the last time I posted on the other forums for a similar issue I got absolutely obliterated for it by the ex wives club.

i have found out my DSC has stolen from me again (I don’t know if anyone remembers the DSC stolen money post I posted last year and the mum witheld it from me) but basically the same thing has happened. This time it’s a very personal item of jewellery with sentiment which my dad gifted to me when I was a child, quite frankly I’m heartbroken over it.

DSC has been acting very strangely over the past two weeks, and due to the nature of the mother who has ramped up the battiness lately, I have reason to believe her mother has coerced the whole thing. The mother sent a picture to DSCs grandparent, stating that she found this at home and said that DSC has said her grandparent had gifted it. Low and behold it was mine, taken from my bedroom at the weekend.The mother is now in possession of my jewellery, and I know if I admit it’s mine I will not get it back as per what happened with the money. My partners mother has replied and said that it’s hers and she would like it back, but the mother is pretty much saying that it isn’t hers which is making me wonder if she has purposely sent DSC to retrieve some of my belongings (I know this might seem very unlikely to some of you reading this but this sort of behaviour amongst much more has been common of her!)

We have a very horrible history of the mother lying, being manipulative and using her child for a lot of things as this, and we have been concerned about the child’s behaviour lately. It makes much sense to us now why they have been behaving strangely.

I don’t know what to do. I’m upset and angry and worried at the same time. My DP is obviously the one who will be dealing with all things DSC going forwards but I’m worried I’m not going to get my possession back and I feel awful and anxious over the breach and being stolen from, and now her having control over something that doesn’t belong to her. Stuff like this has happened one too many times and I’m sick to death of it. Can I get the police involved or will they not care? Im in the U.K.