Latest news with #stepfamily
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Yahoo
Woman Doesn't Want to Babysit Her Partner's Kid from a Previous Relationship — but She's Unsure If She's Right
The woman, who shared her story on Reddit, said the 9-year-old boy "misbehaves any time" she takes him anywhereNEED TO KNOW A woman says her husband wants her to take his 9-year-old son from a previous relationship on a trip she planned for herself and her daughter She said that she declined, as the boy often 'misbehaves' The woman shared her story on a community forum, where the majority of Redditors said she was completely in the rightA woman says she doesn't want to watch her partner's child from a past relationship — but she's not sure if she's in the right. The woman detailed her situation on the popular Reddit forum 'Am I the A------', a place where Reddit users can go to seek advice about interpersonal issues. In the post, the woman explained that she and her current partner share a 7-year-old daughter, and he has a 9-year-old son from a previous relationship. The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now! The woman said that she is a videographer, and she was planning to take her daughter with her on an upcoming work trip that happens to be at the beach. However, she said that her daughter's half-brother was dropped off at their home unexpectedly, shortly before she and her daughter were supposed to leave, and her partner was 'trying to force' her to take his son along. 'He [the son] misbehaves any time I take him anywhere, so I said no, he cannot come with me when I'm going on business to the beach,' the original poster (OP) said, adding, 'It's not a trip for fun.' 'AITA [am I the a------]?' the woman asked at the end of her post. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The vast majority of the woman's fellow Redditors said that they thought she was absolutely not the 'a------' in the situation, especially because it's a business trip. 'NTA [not the a------]," one person said. 'You are working, and at best you can supervise your own child. Guaranteeing the safety of another child who consistently does not behave when with you is a non-negotiable.' 'NTA. It's a business trip, not a family vacation. Boundaries need to be respected,' someone else said. Another person commented, 'NTA. The son is supposed to be spending time with his dad.' 'Take your daughter ... Have an amazing time. The father needs to step up and spend time with his son,' agreed someone else. Read the original article on People Solve the daily Crossword
Yahoo
4 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Mom Scolds Daughter for Bringing Up Her Late Father in Front of ‘Jealous' Stepdad
The woman lost her father to cancer in 2018NEED TO KNOW A 27-year-old woman was scolded by her mother and aunt for mentioning her deceased father because her stepfather gets jealous The woman lost her father to cancer in 2018 when she was just 20 years old Her family members got upset after she said she wasn't going to call her mother's new husband "dad"A woman's family got upset when she mentioned her late father around her mother's new husband, leading her to question if she was "in the wrong." In a Reddit post, the 27-year-old shares that she was scolded by her mother and aunt for mentioning her deceased father because her stepfather gets "jealous." She began her story by stating that she's "so upset" about the situation, explaining that she lost her father to cancer in 2018 when she was just 20 years old. Her mother has since remarried, and at the ceremony, she was asked by her younger cousin if she was going to call her mom's new husband "dad." "I obviously said no. I already had a dad and was a fully grown woman by the time he came into my mother's life," the woman explains. However, her response seemingly rubbed her stepfather the wrong way and ultimately caused a scene. "After that comment, my mother and her sister pulled me aside, and started yelling at me to stop bringing up my father in front of her new husband because... he's jealous? Of a dead man?" she writes in disbelief. The Redditor explained elsewhere in the post that her stepfather is a "cool guy" and has a teenage daughter whom he shares custody over with his ex. "His ex is alive and they see each other every other weekend to pass the kid but he's jealous of a dead man? I basically told them to get off me," the woman explains, adding that she also told them she does not mention her father "deliberately." She explained that her dad "had been my father for 20 years and naturally I bring him up sometimes in passing. Especially to my younger cousin who was only 7 when my dad passed away and barely remembers him." Her aunt then told the grieving daughter that her "dad was important to [her] but is not important to anybody else anymore" and that she "should let go and move on instead of talking about him because everyone else is." The aunt's comment left her in tears, and she refused to speak with the two family members for the rest of the day. Still, she turned to Reddit for outside opinions on the matter, wondering if she was in the wrong for still bringing up her dad or if it was "reasonable of my mother's husband to be jealous of a literal corpse." Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The vast majority of commenters fully supported the poster. "This is straight up despicable behaviour from your mother and aunt," one person wrote. "No one gets to tell you to stop talking about your father, ever. Are you sure this is actually coming from the new husband? Or is it just coming from your mother?" The commenter added that they "wouldn't be able to look my mother in the eye again if I were in your position." Another stated that the conversation was "blown out of proportion," while a third simply penned: "Your father is not a taboo topic." Read the original article on People Solve the daily Crossword


The Guardian
5 days ago
- General
- The Guardian
I am very wary of my five-year-old stepdaughter. Am I a bad person?
Am I a bad person for being very wary of my five-year-old stepdaughter? I had resolved to not have children of my own but when I met my partner, with whom I have a wonderful relationship, he came with two children from a previous marriage. He's very supportive and understanding in giving me my space from the children when I need it, and he's come to respect the fact I am making concessions in my life to take on parenting. I love both the children but the youngest is a challenge. She presents a lot of the characteristics of her mother – she has no shame, no accountability, zero fear of authority and is incredibly spoilt. My partner struggles with this too. I know she's five and you can't expect someone so young to be accountable, but I'm really worried she won't grow out of it. I don't want to create a self-fulfilling prophecy in which she senses me distancing myself and that rejection makes matters worse, but at the same time I am feeling resentful. I'm resistant to tolerating her when I never asked for her to be in my life in the first place. Is it wrong to be wary of such a small child? Eleanor says: Am I a bad person for feeling this way, that's the question? Is there a world where I say, 'yes'? Of course not. Here's your permission: it's fine to feel mixed. It's fine to have not wanted kids. It's fine to feel complicated about their presence in your life now, or complicated about their mother. It's fine to feel frustrated by a particular child's behaviour. It's fine to resent the way stepmothers can get a raw deal, culturally – easily villainised, expected to handle the same challenges as biological parents, without the same decision-privileges. All this is fine to struggle with. What might not be fine is what we choose to do, given those feelings. You said you're resistant to tolerating your stepdaughter when you never asked for her to be in your life in the first place. True, you didn't ask. But you were asked, and you said yes. You don't have to have a relationship with someone who has kids. You don't have to say yes to having a kid in your house, your time, your life. To be totally clear: having said yes does not mean you can't feel resentful sometimes. It doesn't even mean you have to keep saying yes. Heaven knows we all agree to things we're not thrilled with for the sake of our relationship: moving country, changing jobs, caring for their relatives. But it gets sticky if, once the bad bits show up, we reserve the right to be treated as someone who didn't sign up for this. Some decisions don't work like that. Especially with little kids. Your concern about this is totally right; you can really mess up a kid if ambivalence about your decision to be in their life becomes ambivalence in how you treat them. It's fine to not want a certain relationship with a child. What's not fine is agreeing to a relationship you don't really want, and then letting the child see that asterisk. That's true for biological parents, step-parents, foster parents. So perhaps instead of asking whether you're a bad person for having these feelings, you could ask what you'll say 'yes' to from here on. Some step-parents want to be a parent, no modifications. Others want to be more clearly delineated as a parent's partner. Counselling with her father would be a really good investment to make sure you both agree about which version of step-parenting you're trying to build. If you do decide to continue to be part of his life, he is a package deal. So then, the goal becomes how to process and move past these feelings, not to privately stand by their legitimacy. It might help to learn about psychology and development in five-year-olds. That may help you understand difficult behaviour, and how it may come from difficulties she's experiencing. Counselling for you, privately, could also remind everyone involved that your role is a hard one; that you deserve time and help to figure it out. It is OK to find this incredibly frustrating. But you want to be careful about saying yes to a certain version of life while still maintaining the backstop that it is not the life you wanted.
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Pregnant Woman Leaves Family Vacation Due to Husband's Pointed Jokes Around His Kids
A 32-year-old woman left her family vacation after her husband said their new baby would replace him and his kids The woman confronted him about the incessant comments, but he passed it off as "light teasing" The woman decided to leave the trip after the man said she would forget they "exist" once she gave birthA pregnant woman abruptly left a family vacation after her husband kept making "jokes" about how their lives would change once the baby arrived. In a since-deleted Reddit post, the 32-year-old woman shared that her husband has a 10-year-old son and a 13-year-old daughter from his previous marriage, and they are expecting their first baby together. "We recently went on a beach trip, and for some reason, my husband kept making jokes like, 'Oh soon you won't care about us, just the new baby!' or 'I'll miss when you used to have time for my kids,'" she writes. The 37-year-old man would make these remarks in front of the kids, and the poster 'noticed they started pulling away from me during the trip.' When she asked him to stop, he brushed it off as 'light teasing.' 'The last straw was when we were taking family photos, and he said, 'Better take the pic now before she forgets we exist after giving birth,'' the woman recalls. She then packed her bags that night and flew home. Her husband told her that she had embarrassed him and ruined the trip, and his children asked if she was mad at them. While she is not mad at her stepchildren, she is mad at her husband for "planting that seed in their heads." Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. Most commenters sided with the woman, noting that the husband was projecting his insecurities onto her. 'It sounds like he's dealing with his own issues and trying to make them your responsibility, which is unfair. You're not obligated to carry the weight of someone else's insecurities,' one commenter wrote. 'Sounds like he's undermining you with his children and also trying to send you a warning that you must not be too absorbed with your baby when it arrives,' another commenter wrote. 'Clearly this manbaby felt left out by his partner when his previous children were born. He's trying to get some kind of promise out of you to give him attention or be anxious to please him when baby is born.' Read the original article on People
Yahoo
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Mom Doesn't Want Ex-Husband's Wife Present the Morning of Her Daughter's Wedding - Wonders If She's Being ‘Old-Fashioned'
A mother is wondering if she's 'old-fashioned' for not wanting her ex-husband's wife there the morning of her daughter's wedding She wants the morning to be 'intimate' and doesn't understand why the other woman expects to be 'involved' The mother shared her story on Mumsnet, where it sparked much debateA woman is wondering if she's 'old-fashioned' for not wanting her ex-husband's wife present on the morning of her daughter's wedding. The woman detailed her story in the 'Am I Being Unreasonable?' forum on the U.K.-based community site Mumsnet. She explained that her daughter is getting married soon, and said it will be a 'low-key affair.' 'I booked the hairdresser for the wedding — made the booking for my daughter and myself as the mother of the bride. There aren't any bridesmaids or sisters, so I figured it would be just the two of us,' she said. However, the original poster (OP) recently found out that her daughter's stepmother is 'upset' that she wasn't included in the morning wedding plans. '[My ex-husband and his wife] got together when my daughter was about 15, so it's not like she raised her or they ever lived together,' the woman explained. The OP said that she ultimately told her daughter's stepmother that it would be 'fine' if she joined — but admitted to her fellow Mumsnet members that she's not happy about it. The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now! 'I was expecting it to be intimate, just me and my daughter,' she said before adding, 'I've already told my mother she can't be there the morning before the wedding. Why does everyone expect to be involved?' 'I thought it was mother, daughter and bridesmaids only. Or is that old-fashioned now?' the OP asked at the end of her post. Several commenters told the OP that they thought her feelings were totally valid given the circumstances. 'It's okay to want to spend the morning just you and your daughter without the stepmother muscling in,' one person said. 'No, you're not a villain for not including her [...], and I don't think you'd be doing anything wrong to tell your [daughter] that you find it intrusive and upsetting,' said someone else. However, several other commenters noted that the OP's post is missing a vital piece of information— specifically, how her daughter feels about the situation. Never miss a story — sign up for to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. 'There's nothing in here about what your daughter wants? It's her choice, not yours!' one person said. 'You haven't mentioned your daughter's wishes at all. Her wedding, her call,' added someone else. Another person encouraged the OP to ask her daughter what *she* wants on her special day. 'My daughter's stepmother has a bit of a habit of overstepping,' the person said, adding, 'I would speak with your daughter and find out what she honestly wants for herself.' Read the original article on People