Anyone else not watch their SC?

[Tapasgoofy]

I see it a lot on here how loads of step mums watch their step children/child while their OH work, go out etc. A lot seem to resent it or get taken advantage of constantly..

Do many others have a similar Set up to myself? I pretty much never have my step child on my own. I don’t say yes to extra days at ours if my OH Isn’t about etc.
I will occasionally watch all the kids on the evening if they have gone up to bed and he ants to go out to see friends etc but that’s it.

I always feel my life is so much easier this way, less stress etc. Am I the odd one out?

No. I've done the odd night I can probably count on one hand in 12 years but as a rule no.
I don't expect him to have my children either and has maybe done one night when they were younger

I stay with my SD when she wants to hang out with me - it was more frequent before I got pregnant but that's more to do with my generally poor heath during this time.

However, I think it will become more frequent after baby arrives to mitigate some of the potential jealousy.

Mine are all late teens now but met when they were 7,8 and 11 and no i never had them alone partly because I had none of my own children till 5 years later but I always just felt it wasn't my role.

Don't get me wrong I was fine with the odd hour or so if something happened as going on but their mum asked me to have them more in the holidays (my husband worked long nights) and I said no... she said my husband looks after them so why can't you? And I just said I wasn't comfortable with it and wouldn't be doing it for days on end / overnight I'm fine with emergencies but not childcare.

Luckily my partner is great and never pressured me to do it anymore than I ok with and my relationship is great with the kids so it never affected anything

My partners family ( mum and a sister) had a huge problem with it and used to say oh if you have them more then it's great because we see them more and they prefer being in dads house. Tough luck! I just said I'd pass it onto their mum that nana and auntie were up for extra time so give them a bell!

I've had my SSs without their dad. With just their sister, our toddler together, or my two sons aswell. I've been asked and I've offered. It is extra stress sometimes as they're fussy eaters and have their own issues. But often we have fun, play games, watch movies or even just chat.

I also refuse to look after my step children. I have 3 children of my own. Two joint children with my partner, and I have enough on. I'd massively resent that.

Never have, but I would. However, as my stepchild doesn’t live with us, my husband has never chosen to be out whilst SC is at ours. I treat SC, day to day, as if I’m in a parental role, so I would very happily watch him. I wouldn’t consider it babysitting. But importantly, he doesn’t live with us. I might feel very very differently if he did. And most importantly, my husband would never assume I was watching the kids, including the one I gave birth to!

I don’t. I used to before I had my own DC and DSS was small. But as he got older and more volatile, I stopped. He has episodes of being aggressive and violent and I just don’t want to deal with it anymore.

I would really prefer we could lump the children together and treat them as a unit. I still wouldn’t provide childcare for his Mother though.