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New Experience bring New Obstacles

AlexisMarie826's picture

Hello Everyone Out There!

I am very very new at this so I hope you all can help be with the phrases used here as I revisit this site to find answers to my questions.

First I'm not a stepmother but have been dating my boyfriend for over a year, he has a 3 year old son with his ex girlfriend. I've never embarked on something so difficult and I have no one to really turn to when my emotions get ahold of me.

One day his son will become my step-son and I've been thinking about what that means for me and my future. I have to accept that he will never be my son and that another woman will always be in my boyfriend's life.

Currently, I'm experiencing a lot of resentment towards his son, especially when he throws his screaming fits when he doesn't get his way. My boyfriend has to take him into the bedroom and try to calm him down but all I hear is piercing screams. As if he's screaming bloody murder.

It makes me feel so uncomfortable and I can feel it inside. I get major anxiety and the next time he's over I want nothing to do with him. So I become very stand-offish and just want to be by myself.

My boyfriend has made comments that I have to pay his son more attention if I want him to have a relationship with him but it's just so hard. It makes me feel really upset when I have my days and he forgets what I have done the days before.

I hope that I find peace and comfort in this new blog so I get my feelings out.

I look forward to speaking to you all!

omgstop's picture

I feel you on that...as far as wanting nothing to do with his kid after the kid acts out, so don't feel bad. I think it happens to plenty of people and, at least for me, it's gotten easier to deal; it just takes time. Good luck!

No saint's picture

Welcome, Alexis. I'm sorry to say this, but if you already feel the way you do and you don't even share the same house (or do you?) it will only get worse with time. At the age of 3 it's the screaming fits but after that kids learn how to manipulate and unless your BF has a steady hand, he'll allow that to happen and you'll just end up resenting the kid more and more and losing the respect you have for your partner. So yes, run!

AlexisMarie826's picture

To answer some of your questions my boyfriend and I do not live with each other. He is an awesome father and is very active in his son's life. Him and I didn't have that in his life so I think it's very responsible of him to make sure his son is taken care of. The BM lives in her mother's house. The grandmother and my boyfriend are basically raising the child because the BM has had some medical issues in the past and she wasn't able to establish a bond with her son. Given the choice he would go to either dad or grandma. Grandma gives him everything and his father does not, his son hates the word no just like all kids and tries to throw a tantrum when things don't go his way.

I don't believe my bf wants me to raise his son, I mean he does not give me that vibe at all. The vibe I get is in order to be in his life I need to love his son because he is part of him.

My bf and I are great together, obviously the BM is not thrilled with him seeing someone else but my bf made it clear that it was over. I'm not trying to run away from my situation. I came here to learn about the world I plan to venture into. I want insight on what might be down the line.

His son is 3 years old, 2-3 year olds are full of tantrums and fits. That's the age and when you mix two different parenting styles it's definitely not easy.

I appreciate all of your responses.

AlexisMarie826's picture

I'm glad I found this site so I can definitely get a look at what type of obstacles everyone faces later on. I mean I'm sure everyone has been in my place when they first started dating their spouses and I'm sure each experience was different. I appreciate your response.

No Name's picture

I have been in my skids lives for 14 years and I don't love them. Heck sometimes I don't even like them. When they were much younger they would just plain torture me. I had rules in our home and their Mother had none. They ruined furniture and hardwood floors with wet towels, broke sentimental items, stuck gum here there and every where. They would eat every snack and drink every drink that we had before they left to go home. They would get take pictures that we had in frames and bend the picture so that I was cut out of it and put it back in the frame. I dreaded the weekends that they were here. The girls would steal my good cosmetics. I could go on and on. I never said a word to the kids but boy would I give their father an ear full. Now here we are 14 years later. The oldest is nice to my face but I know that she truly hates me. Her actions speak volumes. She is still hoping Mommy and Daddy get back together. They haven't been together in 17 years. The middle one may like me, not sure. She will secretly send me a text or say something nice but never in a million years would she want her Mother or the oldest to know. The youngest is now out of school and extremely immature. Couldn't care one way or the other about me. Your little guy is still so young. You may have a chance. My guess would be to try and find fun things to do with him so that he looks forward to spending time with you. Prior to my marriage I was in a relationship where my boyfriend had two boys. I loved the oldest son, actually felt sorry for him because he was always being yelled at because the attention was on the younger bratty son. When we split up their Mother actually called and thanked me for being there for them and mostly for the oldest. Fast forward he is now a young adult and we found each other on face book and he remembered me. We had a nice chat. I think that the BM will have a lot to do with how this all plays out too. I tried to befriend my husbands ex thinking that it would be in the best interest of the kids and she would not even respond. She hates me and has only been around me about three times for a matter of maybe 10 minutes each time. My husband says she told him that she knows that I am such a better mother. I say grow up and do what is best for the kids.

AlexisMarie826's picture

Thank you so much for your response, I appreciate the time you took to respond. The things you mentioned do worry me but his son is so young that he won't remember his parents together. So I won't have him thinking his mom and dad will one day be back together. Which is really sad to think about but I can't help but feel kind of relieved because it's better for me. I do however believe BM believes her and my be will eventually get back together and that's something else I think about. The BM's mom always has something to say and is the instigator when it comes to me. My boyfriend is trying and I've voice many times that this is all new to me and he needs to be patient just like I have to be patient with him. He has two sides to deal with and because he's a guy I'm sure he won't do everything the right way but he's human.

His son is not a terror, not yet at least, he's a three year old who is trying to get things over on his dad. He's a very sweet and very smart. I sit and engage with him but there are some days where I don't want to be bothered. He has learned to say my name and when his dad tells him to go say bye to me he'll come over and give me a kiss or bow his head so I can give him a kiss.

I don't know how it will be later on but everyone has their own experience with this and I'm hoping I can learn from it.

notsurehowtodeal's picture

Just because he has no memory of his parents together is no guarantee that he won't want them together. If BM wants to get back with your BF, she may tell the boy and that may cause problems as well.

I encourage you to read the blogs and forums. You will learn a great deal. Fight the urge to think "that will never happen to me." Most of it probably will.

furkidsforme's picture

It doesn't matter.

I was around when SS was just turning 4. His mother was a drugged out zombie who was busy hooking up with strange men on the internet when she bothered to wake up.

I raised him with his Dad until nearly 6 before she even saw him again. Visitation was spotty at best up until he was about 14. Last year they got in their first fight (she is very volatile- we were shocked it took so long) and she beat him and kicked him out of her house in the middle of the night.

None of it matters. She walks on water. I'm less than dog food. It doesn't matter that I did all the carting to and fro, cooked all the meals, did all the shopping, kept the house, and help put a roof over his head and pay for every fucking thing he has. None of it matters.

If I died, he would not shed one fucking tear for me.

But MOM.... Mom is a GOD.

AlexisMarie826's picture

Thanks so much for your response! It has crossed my mind when him and I think about getting married or having kids which is not in the near future by any means. I think about the hate I'll get from the BM and the grandmother but when it comes to the MIL she and I get along very well. She knows how the BM is and is very upset that she's making her son's like harder than it needs to be.

with regards to the household chores, I do them when I stay at his place. Just to help out but mostly because he's a guy and I'm a woman who likes stuff organized and clean. The loving the child as my own is still something I don't quite understand. He will never truly be mine when I marry my Bf so I'm not sure how it works. I care about his son a lot, when he's sick or when he's gone to the hospital I wanted to be there with my boyfriend but I felt like I wasn't allowed to be there, like it wasn't my place.

I'm not sure if what I'm saying makes me seem unintelligent but me running away isn't just because I love his father. There's more to it than that. I talk to my family and friends about it and they do support me and they see how happy he makes me and they love his son and thinks he's adorable. They sometimes think I over react with some things.

I do agree with you about the tantrum performance, it is the loudest screams I've heard, I've become so bitter than anytime i hear a child in a store or restaurant I seriously just want to turn to the parent and tell them to quiet their child up. And that's not me, I'm not a hateful person. I just know that when I have kids I will discipline and feed them differently, they'll have a schedule and I will just stuff different. Idk how my boyfriend would feel about the idea about leaving him in there alone but it's like I expect his son to know everything, to be potty trained, off of his sippy cup and I keep reminding myself that he's not my kid. I can do it my way when I have my own.

QueenBeau's picture

You will never love that kid as your own.

If your SO wants you to do that as a congtengency to being with him, you should leave because you will never measure up to that.

AlexisMarie826's picture

You have definitely made a great point and I agree that I probably won't have the same love for his son that I have for my own children. And is that okay? I mean the bond will never be as strong as the one a mother and child have because they aren't really the mother. You made me think about that more closely. I thank you for taking the time to respond back.

SugarSpice's picture

its good that you are coming here for advice.

love is not enough to keep a man and woman together when children on either side are involved.

your boyfriends expectations of you are not realistic. find someone who has a more balanced view of the woman in his life and his children.