Posting this again as my last post was taken down as I had duplicate accounts! I 43F have been with my BF 51M for six years now. I have two daughters aged 7 and 10. She has two grown-up daughters. We get on really well and have lots of shared interests, but even after six years he has minimal interaction with my children. He comes to my house when they go to their dads and he leaves when they get back. He does occasionally pop in when they’re home but doesn’t tend to hang around as he clearly gets stressed out by normal children’s behaviour i.e. being noisy, bickering and wanting attention. I recently booked and paid for a holiday abroad for us both and my girls in the hope that it would strengthen our relationship. He spent most of his evenings sitting on his own away from us, on his mobile. He was constantly tutting and sighing. If the girls ever acted up, he would say “ I knew this would happen” or “ I knew she would do this” . He’s especially strict with my eldest daughter. I think she reminds him of his oldest daughter who no longer has a relationship with. They do get on when the girls are ‘ behaving’ but the girls do prefer it when he’s not around. Our holiday has proven that we have very different parenting styles and that living together whilst I have young children could never happen. Do I end it and concentrate on being a mum or live a double life keeping my relationship and children separate?
I have asked him to keep his distance since of holiday while I evaluate things. He says he loves all of us and feels awful that he has ruined our holiday.