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Mixed Emotions Regarding Stepdaughter

mixedemotionsaboutstepdaughter's picture

Hello. I have a bit of a long story, so I hope you don't mind reading (and listening to me vent).

I am a 40-something Mom of two boys who are both grown and out of the home. I am also a stepmom to a 17 year old boy, and a 7 year old girl. Here's my story:

When I divorced my boys' father, one lived with me the other with his father. No problems. About 3 years after my divorce was final, I met and married my current hubby...who had (at the time) a 13 year old teenage son living with him full time. Bio-mom is not in the picture, and we don't receive any form of child support from her either. After hubby and I dated for a while, he slowly introduced me to a little 3 year old girl whom he called his "daughter". He told me that when he was dating his former girlfriend she was pregnant, but didn't know it. Now, I don't believe that for a minute, considering she's already had 3 other children (who are all 15 and older). Hubby told me that timing just doesn't add up and he doesn't believe that the daughter is actually his. The bio-mom didn't put hubby's name down as the father on the birth certificate either. Mind you, bio-mom is notorious for lying about things anyway. And, she has 3 other children by different fathers. I'm well aware that we could request a paternity test, but hubby said that would never happen. (Probably out of fear that it will come back that he is NOT the father.)

This girl doesn't look like my hubby at all. Yet, everyone in her family and hubby's family is led to believe that she is in fact my hubby's. And, bio-mom will spray Sun In in her hair to lighten it. If she'd let it grow out, it would be darker...just like hers and her other children.

Not too long after hubby and I started dating, bio-mom decided to marry a career military man that she had gone to high school with. (Her "umpteenth" marriage.) Well, that meant moving. So, bio-mom and new hubby moved to Alabama (from Oklahoma)...then were shipped off to South Korea. Of course, they took the daughter with them. So, hubby and I didn't SEE or HEAR FROM the daughter for 2 years! Then, bio-mom's mother passed away and they came back. Bio-mom decided that she no longer wanted to be married to career military man and divorced him. Which meant hubby and I now have a 6 year old little girl back in our lives. Just when we had pretty much resigned ourselves to the fact that we'd probably never see her again. I was actually getting used to the fact that it would just be us and our boys.

Now that daughter is back in our lives, I get really annoyed with having her around. She's bossy, demanding, extremely hyper active, says mean and hurtful things, hits and pinches us, and tries to steal all of my hubby's attention. She's a prissy girl, too...and it bothers me that she won't get outside and touch things and explore. She acts like her older sisters and thinks she needs to wear dresses, high heels, make up, nail polish, and fix her hair up. She's only 7 for crying out loud! I have no say so in it, though. I went out of my way to make one of our spare bedrooms hers, decorated it all up in her favorite colors and themes...and she will hardly play in it, unless we're in there with her...and flat out refuses to sleep in it! Apparently bio-mom allows her to sleep with her...which we will not allow. So, she sleeps in the living room on the couch with the TV on and our 17 year old stepson. He will stay out there with her until she falls asleep, then he goes to his bedroom. She won't go do anything by herself. She ALWAYS has to have someone playing with her, or paying attention to her. She won't go to the bathroom by herself, or go get something out of a room by herself. And she will either get mad if we don't go with her, or she just won't go get whatever it is that she's wanting or needing. She doesn't even wipe herself when she uses the bathroom!

I don't know what to do. Hubby expects me to help her bathe/shower, go to the bathroom, etc. because I'm female. I don't want to, honestly. I tell her no and make her go take care of herself. She's old enough to do many things on her own. I never had girls, so all of this attention demanding and stuff is drivng me nuts! We have her pretty much every weekend...which also drives me nuts, because our time gets taken up by her. Hubby doesn't pay child support, because he's not listed as the father, but we do buy her school supplies, clothes, etc. I feel like we're just a convenenience for bio-mom more than anything! (Which is basically what hubby was for bio-mom to begin with! He's always managed to get into relationships with women who just want him to be their "Good Time Charlie"...users and abusers!)

I am also bothered with how well he gets along with bio-mom and her family! She's the black sheep of that family, and she knows it. And, she and my hubby were never married...I am the only wife he has ever had. I know it's just for the daughter's sake, because he can't STAND bio-mom for everything she's done to him! But, her family invites us to functions and it makes me feel very uncomfortable. I don't mingle with my ex, or his family, so why should I have to mingle with hers?! Bio-mom is on both of our Facebook accounts as well. When I told hubby I felt that she really didn't need to be on there, he kind of got upset and said that's the only way for bio-mom to contact him (because she doesn't have a cell phone) and it's a good way for us to share pictures of daughter, etc. I HATE IT!!!!! So, I went and kept her as an acquaintance only and blocked her from seeing pretty much anything I post and I unfollowed her, because I could truly care less about her! Hubby isn't a Facebook fan anyway, so he's rarely on it. I know some could say, "Divorce him...if that's how you feel." I don't want to do that! He's my heart and soul! I love him to the moon and back!

I commend my hubby for doing what he does. Please don't get me wrong! Him being a responsible parent is part of what attracted me to him in the first place. But, I just can NOT stand daughter's bio-mom! She's an idiot on the grandest of scales...and, I really do pray that one day she's treated the way she's treated others! Sorry for the long rambling, I really could go on and on...but, I can't.

Please, can anyone offer some advice?! I'm to the point where I don't even want to be home on the weekends when stepdaughter is there because she annoys me THAT MUCH! And, hubby senses my irritation and makes comments about it. He, too, gets tired and worn out by her. We are in our 40's after all! LOL

Rags's picture

Time for the DNA test. Grab a hair from DH and one from suspected SD and have the test run. If DH is not the bio dad then inform him that things will change, how they will change, or SD will be sent back to BM never to return. She bathes herself, sleeps in her own bed, does what she is told when she is told or she bears the consequences for failing to comply with reasonable behavioral expectations

That a grown man would allow a 7yo and a serial breeding whore to manipulate him to this level makes me want to puke.

Time for DH to put a hand between his legs, grab a big handful of man sack and man up in order to be a REAL father to this little girl whether she is his or not or he is THE problem rather than the solution.

IMHO of course.

Good luck.

mixedemotionsaboutstepdaughter's picture

Rags, thanks for the good laugh! I wish I could do a paternity test, but I honestly don't know the first thing about how to go about doing it...especially if I were to do it without anyone's knowledge. I don't really want to do it behind DH's back, because that's not how I roll. BUT, I would really like to know one way or the other. That being said, even if we did know...I guarantee it wouldn't change the relationship between DH and SD. He would never walk away from her, EVER.

I posted this in another forum as well, and was blasted for having such "hatred" for BM. I'm not a hateful person, truly. I'm just tired of having to deal with her and her bull!

As far as SD goes in our home...I've decided that I'm just going to take a step back and make DH tend to her as much as possible. He wants her there, he needs to be involved. I know why SD is so demanding and craves SO MUCH attention from us when she's with us...it's because her BM doesn't really pay her any attention and never really has. It's funny how BM wants to say, "Oh yeah, that's my baby!" Blah, blah, blah! Yet, she doesn't DO anything with her. She just lets her go play outside with her friends or makes her 15 year old daughter play with her, which that goes over like a lead balloon. My own children were NEVER this needy, clingy, whatever you want to call it. It honestly drives me nuts!

I agree that DH needs to man up! Don't get me wrong, I love him dearly, but he has to take control of this! The weird thing is, I notice him watching me whenever SD is around me to see how I react to her. If I show irritation or displeasure in her behavior he calls me "grumpy". He doesn't make a big deal of it, but he acts as if I should be all smiles and giggles and happy that his daughter is driving me nuts! WTF?! If he wants her to act that way, then she can act that way to HIM...not me! When I have commented on her behavior in the past, the response I get is, "She's just a little girl!" It's like she's a princess and can do NO wrong! I don't like being pinched, or hit on my rear end, or have her flicking her fingers in my face while trying to flick the tip of my nose, or putting her hands on my face and squishing my cheeks together and acting like a fool. It's not funny to me! BM allows this little girl to have nails that are WAY too long, too. So, when she pinches...it HURTS!

Is it horrible of me to RELISH the weekends that BM decides SD's not going to come and visit?! Whether it's because they have something going on, or SD is sick?! LOL Because I LOVE IT when she's not around!

Rags's picture

DNA is pretty easy these days. There are companies that do the test via hair analysis. Buy a kit, collect some hairs from SDs brush or pillow and a few hairs from DH's comb or pillow (make sure the hairs have roots) and mail them in with a check. You get the result back. Then you know.

How you use that information is up to you.

Either way DH needs to stop being the problem, grab BM by the short and curlies, take control, and set an example for this little girl. Part of that needs to be keeping the Skid informed of the facts of her BM's bullshit in an age appropriate manner. Facts will help this little girl formulate an accurate opinion of her whore of a BM and to prepare her to protect herself from the toxic influence of her BM.

We followed this strategy for much of the 17+ years that my SS's Custody/Visitation/Support CO was in effect. We kept comprehensive records. As SS got older we shared the facts with him when the toxic toothless moron Sperm Clan tried to manipulate with lies and whining. Eventually SS-22 formed his own opinions, used the information for his own edification and to protect himself from the shallow and polluted end of his gene pool. On many occasions as he got older his mom and I observed him digging through the file cabinets for court recordings, judgments, arrest and conviction records, CS records, etc, etc, etc..... Any time the Sperm Clan spouted some crap that did not pass his smell test he knew were to go to find the truth.

The Sperm Idiot has a habit of lying his ass off to the Skid even now that DickHead is 45 and the kid is 22. Now SS has no problem calling his Sperm Idiot a liar and calling him on his bullshit. The funny part is that though DickHead has bowed up on the kid when he calls bullshit the kid laughs in his face, tells him to take his best shot. The Sperm Idiot wilts as the eternal coward worthless POS serial out of wedlock breeding dirt bag that he is. SS is respectful when he lays the facts out baring the Sperm Idiots ass but makes no attempt to temper the message and does not tolerate any crap from any of the Sperm Clan.

The SKid has no use for his Sperm Idiot and visits Sperm Land only to see his 3 also out of wedlock younger half sibs by 2 other mothers.

Facts are awesome. Use them well and have fun! }:)

Someday your SD may very well be well informed and use her knowledge of the facts to confidently protect herself from her worthless POS BM.