Are your children’s vaccines up to date?

Set a reminder

Please or to access all these features

Step-parenting

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

Weekends with step kids are boring

133 replies

Navigatingstepparenting · 17/05/2026 10:39

Aibu?

Been together 6 years, live in seperate houses mainly because he has a 4 bed house but won’t have his children share who visit maybe every other weekend these days. My two children can’t share due to my youngest a disability. His mother owes them house and she is apparently told old to sell this house and get a bigger one, told us when she’s dead then we can do what we want but she doesn’t want to. Also financially I would actually be skint living with him.
Anyways his kids are now 12 and 14. They come roughly every other weekend now when I have my kids rather than every weekend. Which I am happier about as means that we get the every other weekend without my children and his and can just relax and chill like we use to when we first got together as he use to have his kids Sundays and Mondays every week but that changed to every Friday and saturday. Unfortunately I will still book my weekends away on my child free weekends and it’s upto him whether he stays at home with his kids or comes with me and he choose to come with me. So I think naturally they now come every other week. But this is now my dilemma. His kids will stay awake a lot durn the night (says he can’t control this because their mother allows it.) and then they sleep u til like 1-2pm. My every other weekend with my children we have to to be quiet until 1-2. Usually I have a lie in Saturdays so they are happy in the room they have to share the 2 nights we are here but then I get up and we don’t do breakfast or lunch until they are up, we just sit and watch tv, play iPads and do nothing with our day or go out and do nothing fun because we wait for them to get up and then they don’t even want to go out. I then get grumpy and in a mood because I’m like this is just boring, he believes it’s doing my kids good as believes over the years they have been too spoilt with weekend to zoos and theme parks etc as his kids didn’t and holidays abroad etc. but I’m bored at home, I also don’t want my eldest wanting to live with his dad because we do nothing. Today I have made plans as he went to work at 7am and his kids let themselves out when they wake up and that’s wrong because I am treating my kids to a day out, well yes unfortunately I am because I have to do something with them! But we can’t make any noise and wake his precious children. I’d i stay at home the weekend we get moaned at that we aren’t spending time together as a family.

I take my kids abroad most years, his kids don’t have passports and that’s a him problem I can’t be expected to pay for them aswell as me and my kids. But I am putting £30 a week into an account same as him to do weekends away in this country with all our children! That’s great but we have done one and have another booked and one of his kids is saying she may not come as it’s too childish. We go to like park deans. But she had a blast last time, and we’ve said we are open to ideas to suit everyone. Anyways he doesn’t really like to go spending on them park days etc but has said this time we can take food to cook and use the money to d a theme park or something to make her want to keep coming. Sorry but she’s just being ungrateful on my eyes. Her mother doesn’t take her away we are trying to do something every other month and it’s not good enough. But he just tells me I am making them the enemy and I’m being harsh. Like err no. She’s being ungrateful.
Now refusing to eat dinner if I cook it, although it’s cooked the exact way he does it.

All his kids did was spend all weekend upstairs anyways! Like what’s the point in coming over? The youngest was because she wanted her friend over Friday night which disturbs everyone as they can’t be quiet. But he thinks it’s great because the friend is allowed to stay here and not the mothers and that he could win the battle with her wanting to move on here.

I get staying home is great we save money but I’m bored of it. Step

OP posts:
Are your children’s vaccines up to date?
MiaKulper · 17/05/2026 15:29

My every other weekend with my children we have to to be quiet until 1-2.
My two children can’t share due to my youngest a disability. but they share at the weekend.

Why are you prioritising a man over your own children?

onmylastnerveseriously · 17/05/2026 15:32

OP everyone has told you the solution is not to see him when either of you have your kids. Why make life so hard for yourself?

BudgetBuster · 17/05/2026 15:33

I'm bamboozled.

Just stay at your house, with your kids, and he stays at his house with his kids

What's the issue?

Loadsapandas · 17/05/2026 15:35

He’s staying married because he wants her to file to prove she left him?

Does that make sense to you? What difference does it make? And who cares what others think?

How will her starting the process help him with his debt?

Snoken · 17/05/2026 16:04

MiaKulper · 17/05/2026 15:29

My every other weekend with my children we have to to be quiet until 1-2.
My two children can’t share due to my youngest a disability. but they share at the weekend.

Why are you prioritising a man over your own children?

Even worse, she is prioritising a married man over her children.

Snoken · 17/05/2026 16:06

onmylastnerveseriously · 17/05/2026 15:32

OP everyone has told you the solution is not to see him when either of you have your kids. Why make life so hard for yourself?

Right! 4 days a month he sees his kids, and he is forcing them to share that little time they have with him with his girlfriend and her kids. He sounds dreadful but has somehow declared himself the boss of everyone and everyone just does as he says.

arethereanyleftatall · 17/05/2026 16:14

He sounds utterly vile and it is baffling to any sane person why you would want to be in a relationship with him.

StandingDeskDisco · 17/05/2026 16:23

Navigatingstepparenting · 17/05/2026 12:04

@Namechangenewyearhe pays the mortgage( it’s only in her name because he still ain’t divorced after 8 years and they don’t want his ex to come for the house in the divorce.

its just frustrating as my kids are expected to do all the give and take his aren’t but yet I’ll be paying half to live there xx

I’ll be paying half to live there

So he wants you to move in with him and pay half?
No No No No No. Don't do it.

As for him saying he wants you 'all together as a family' - he is still married to someone else! (and full of complete bullshit about that situation!)

He is prioritising his children - quite rightly whilst you are living separately, but that won't work if all the children live under one roof. He would need to treat them all equally, but can you honestly see that happening?

Today I have made plans as he went to work at 7am and his kids let themselves out when they wake up and that’s wrong because I am treating my kids to a day out.
He's an absolutely shitty father to go to work when his kids are staying with him, leaving you to babysit them, and then moaning at you when you went out with your kids instead.

He wants you in his house - to mind his kids and pay half his bills.
He hates you going out with your kids - he doesn't want you going out. He wants you to be in his house, with his kids, paying his bills, and doing his housework, so that he is free to go to work.
Don't do it.

StandingDeskDisco · 17/05/2026 16:26

Possibly he is staying married so that he has an excuse not to ever marry you.
Because he doesn't want you having any claim on his future assets.

BudgetBuster · 17/05/2026 16:50

StandingDeskDisco · 17/05/2026 16:26

Possibly he is staying married so that he has an excuse not to ever marry you.
Because he doesn't want you having any claim on his future assets.

I wouldn't recommend marrying him anyway... just another wife to add to his long list it seems.

Ponderingwindow · 17/05/2026 17:13

Calling yourselves a family doesn’t make you one. If you and your children don’t enjoy these weekend visits, just stop visiting. Do your own thing. See your boyfriend a different time.

MJagain · 17/05/2026 17:15

Navigatingstepparenting · 17/05/2026 11:13

@notatinydancerdoesnt like us staying home, he wants us to all be together as a family.
well he saw the kids from 4pm Friday up until bed last night.

You’re not a family.

Focus on your kids.

DierdreDaphne · 17/05/2026 17:26

@StandingDeskDisco is spot on. Why does your dick of a boyfriend get to boss you and your kids around? You are acting as though you were in a close loving blended family situation but you aren't! He's a selfish dick and a useless partner (and fairly useless parent) who has no interest in yours or your dcs needs and preferences. You only seem to exist to him as props, babysitters, servants and shags.

This sounds grindingly awful and as you say, boring as hell.

He seems to be bringing nothing to your children's lives so why are you dragging them over there all the time? Just get on and live your life with your kids.

Go spend your childfree weekends with him if you want - though I expect if you stop obeying all his stupid instructions he'll ditch you and find some other mug. But no loss frankly.

allmycats · 17/05/2026 17:43

He is giving you a load of bullshit about his ‘divorce’ and you are putting him front and centre in your life.
Leave him and get on with your own children’s life’s. You don’t need his crap in your own little family.

Namechangenewyear · 17/05/2026 23:22

He’s lying about his reasons for not divorcing her. He should want her out of his life is she’s treated him that badly.
Divorces are no fault now, and if it’s her that racked up all the debt, then he should want to sort the divorce so that she’s liable to pay some of it.

Sorry OP but he is lying about all of this.

Just step back and see him when he’s not got his DC. If he starts making less effort with you, then you know that he was just using you for help with his DC (many men don’t like to be on their own with their DC as it forces them to parent properly)

MyAutumnCrow · 17/05/2026 23:50

Loadsapandas · 17/05/2026 15:35

He’s staying married because he wants her to file to prove she left him?

Does that make sense to you? What difference does it make? And who cares what others think?

How will her starting the process help him with his debt?

I know. It’s a load of crap, isn’t it?

It all sounds really odd.

Besidemyselfwithworry · 17/05/2026 23:56

Navigatingstepparenting · 17/05/2026 11:13

@notatinydancerdoesnt like us staying home, he wants us to all be together as a family.
well he saw the kids from 4pm Friday up until bed last night.

This sounds like a nightmare for all the kids included and yet another “blended family I want to see my boyfriend never mind the kids situation”
you’ve been together 6 years! Yet still “living separately” out of a bag and trying to force this chaos every time you have the kids.

You have to ask why?

why are you doing this?

what are your children getting from this?

Plus if you aren’t properly together after 6 years then realistically it’s unlikely to progress

If he won’t let his kids share, (and why should they if their Dad has 4 bedrooms?) yours can’t and you say you’d be skint living with him but surely resources would be pooled and then you’d only be running one house then this is unlikely to work

be realistic here

Besidemyselfwithworry · 18/05/2026 00:01

And you are not a “family”

you are 2 separate households that when together is absolute bloody chaos as you are prioritising your needs to be with a married man who isn’t thinking of you as he won’t divorce over your own kids

give your head a wobble here

JustABean · 18/05/2026 00:06

I'm just a stranger and feel your dislike of the two kids so how much more worse it is for them to be around you. I think I would stay in my room as much as possible to. 4 Poor kids in this mess because 2 adults can't figure it out properly and reasonably

CamillaMcCauley · 18/05/2026 00:26

Yet another useless man who can’t parent or organise the basics of his life without making it a woman’s problem.

DysmalRadius · 18/05/2026 00:44

And I think it’s because his kids don’t bother at least mine will be downstairs wanting to talk to him etc. Friday night for example he took my kid to football, we did manage to drag the girls along but they moaned.

So he's cut down from every weekend to every other weekend so he can have a child free weekend with you. And on the days that his children are with him, he prioritised your son and an activity his children weren't interested but were dragged along to anyway.

And you think HE is the expert on what families are like to the extent that you force you kids to spend their weekends with you in his house where they don't have a room each, where they have to be quiet for hiurs to avoid waking the other kids (but their sleep is disturbed by those kids), and where they don't get to do fun activities because he has decided that he doesn't want to.

You two are choosing to prioritise your relationship over your children and nobody is happy. What is the point?

DelphiniumBlue · 18/05/2026 00:56

Why is he taking your son to football rather than doing something his own kids would enjoy? No wonder they were moaning!
Maybe you guys could all meet up for dinner or something on the weekends he has his DC, and the rest of the day you each spend doing stuff with your own children.

Ipollita · 18/05/2026 01:09

I’m quite sure this OP pops up periodically to moan about her boyfriend’s children - her long rambling posting style is rather distinctive. She actively dislikes these girls and tries to pit one against the other.

I’m also fairly sure it’s the same poster who hates them being there at the weekend because it means she and her boyfriend can’t indulge their weird kinks.

arethereanyleftatall · 18/05/2026 07:40

In all my years of being divorced, no one has ever asked me who filed. Tbh, I can’t remember myself. As it makes absolutely no difference whatsoever.

Laurmolonlabe · 18/05/2026 09:01

I my home no one sleeps past 10.00am, no exceptions if they don't go to sleep until 2.00am that's their problem- I'm not tiptoeing around my own house after 10am.The kids are all upstairs all day , you need a hobby or a good film downstairs. Don't pay half with someone else's name on the mortgage- you need a mortgage or a rental of your own instead. I would never fund property ownership for my ex's partner-sorry.

Swipe left for the next trending thread