Need a rant. Strap in, its a long one!
Is anyone else dealing with an EFFING CLUELESS bio mum?
I have been with my partner 4 years and I have a 7 year old step son. I’m very lucky in many ways. Relationship between my partner and his ex is very civil, they respect each other and there is very little conflict. She is not nasty, she is kind and friendly, she is consistent, she clearly loves her son very much and would do anything for him.
HOWEVER.
She’s just not a “natural” when it comes to parenting. I’ll cut to the chase - she let my step son watch ALIEN 1978 (for anyone unfamiliar, one one of the most harrowing sci-fi horrors ever made, rated 18) and seemed genuinely surprised when we reported back to her that he was now having nightmares/trouble getting to sleep and basically regressed to the neediness of a 3 year old at bedtime. Before this he’d been going to bed absolutely fine without calling out in the night for a good couple of years. Now we’re back to an hour or more of ups and downs after he should be asleep, plus several panics in the night where he calls out and needs to be comforted. It’s definitely related to the film because when we asked him about it he broke down in tears and spoke about what he had seen with absolute terror in his eyes. We’ve told his mum that it’s still a problem, several weeks later, and she says he’s probably “milking” it to get more cuddles. She doesn’t experience this at her house because she co-sleeps with him every night so he is never alone at bedtime. This sounds nice on the surface but we don’t think this is necessarily a choice of hers but more that this is what he requests and she has never known how to say “no” or set boundaries. He is also on his iPad watching YouTube until the moment he goes to sleep, which we can see from his screen time is usually around 10pm on a school night. (And not kids YouTube I might add. Full access to normal adult YouTube which she has only put parental controls on in the last couple of weeks since my partner gently suggested that perhaps they should start monitoring what he’s watching….!)
So now I’m just sat here livid at nearly 10pm, having had absolutely no evening with my partner because we’ve been in and out of DSS’s room like a yo-yo, being all calm and nurturing on the surface, comforting his fears and tears, but secretly seething at the fact this is all because of someone else’s ridiculous choices. And just so angry and sad to see my poor DSS suffering needlessly. And of course always trying to hide my disgust from him because I don’t ever want him to think that I think ill off his mum. It’s so hard!!
Not really looking for advice or solutions. Just wanted to rant here rather than having an emotionally charged conversation with my partner at this hour. We have a rule to never discuss anything after 9pm because we’re both tired and it never ends well 😂.