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SD extremely clingy to her dad!!! HELP ME!!

Tabitha255's picture

I was on her before. You can read my previous blogs under "Luvthepolice".. I was engaged and the SD was super clingy. She had just turned 12 and had some extreme clingy issues. It caused me to end the relationship and that broke my heart. He and I had met in 1999. We had a great friendship that eventually turned into more. Well it had been 14 months since I had seen him when we ran into each other 3 months ago.. We picked up like we had never been apart. I love that man so very much and I want this too work. We lost a son a few years ago when I was 5 months pregnant and that has just strengthened our bond. I had only been seeing him when he was alone. About a month ago he had just came into town and we hadn't seen each other in two weeks, so he ask me to meet him and SD for dinner. Since it had been so long I wanted to see if she was still clingy. That took about 5 seconds to figure out! I'm the restaurant he sat down before we did she basically ran to sit beside of him. Then she wrapped her at!s around his arm and laid her head on his shoulder! She is 13 now, 5'6 and 120lbs.. We are the same height and the only difference in our body type is she still has a belly and love handles, but our chest size looks to be about the same size. I ask her what size bras she was wearing because I had some coupons for Victoria secret.. She said she didn't have any bras, just sports bras! I explained to him later that since her BM just doesn't handle her basic needs that we would take her and I would take her in and have her sized and get her into bras that she needs to be in!.. Anyway, the clingy behavior ruined my dinner. Then it got worse, she told me a story about having a dream and she woke up with her head under her daddy's bed!?!?!?? I just thanked him for dinner and waited two days until he was alone at my house so I could talk to him. I ask him why in the hell was she sleeping in his bedroom?!.. (He lives with a roommate, they both work for the same company and they work out of town about 90% of the time so I understand splitting bills in that situation, doesn't explain her sleeping in his bedroom!)). He said where am I supposed to make her sleep?. I said on the couch! There are two huge sofas in that house so either he needs to sleep on the couch or she does! She does not need to sleep in his bedroom floor!! She is 13 not 3!! I told him that if a parent or teacher heard her tell that story that they would call social services! I just don't think he knows how to handle it because this past weekend he had her and he wanted to stay at my house.. He got in late and she called wanting to come to his house (he wasn't supposed to have her) and I told him that I would see him the next day because he is almost an hour away from me but he still came.. And I really think he done it to avoid the sleeping arrangement at his house. Let me go back to the weekend of Fathers Day.. He had to work out of town and he wanted to take her because he wanted to celebrate fathers day with her and he was working in Myrtle Beach.. I didn't want to but I went because of the occasion. We got there late Friday night and he worked until 5 on Saturday, so me and SD went swimming and had a good day talking. That evening we went to " Broadway at the Beach".. If you haven't been its a huge open area with cute shops, entertainment and dining. As soon as we started walking around he was holding my hand, so she started holding his other hand! I let go of his hand and walked off! It is embarrassing! She and I are almost the same size! Well we got to the restaurant and she slide in the booth thinking her precious daddy would sit with her but he sat down beside me. After dinner SD and I walked outside while he paid the bill. I sat down on a bench and she was standing there talking to me, then he sat down on the bench and she sat down on his lap!! I got up and walked to the truck! Back at the hotel we had a two room suite.. But the side with the king bed was the first room and the room with the balcony had the Murphy bed and pull out couch in it.. Well I was on the balcony and he was laid across the Murphy bed and she was on the couch.. I heard her tell him that he could sleep there and she would sleep on the couch and he said "no, we have two bedrooms for a reason, a room for you and a room for us".. Really I was shocked. The next day was fathers day... We went to have Japanese, and they were packing people around the grills!! So there were three chairs and as she was in front of us, so she went to sit in the middle chair and he tapped her shoulder and told her to slide to the ends and then I sat in the middle... She didn't have an attitude or anything we enjoyed the meal and conversation. But this past weekend at my house was different. I was looking for a movie so I sat on the arm of the chair that he was on and he pulled me down on his lap and was tickling me every time I tried to get up..so she came and sat on the other arm of the chair.. I got up and walked into the kitchen.. The next day she followed him around. The weather felt great so I sat down on my back steps and he grabbed a chair and sat across from me, she grabbed a chair and sat right next to him.. The chairs were touching! Then he started throwing little sticks at me so she sat on his lap! So I got up and started picking up some limbs to throw on the fire pit from a bad storm we had just had.. Well my sister pulled up and we were waiting for my daughter to get home from church.. She sat on his lap for 26 minutes, yes I timed it!! As soon as my sister left she text me about her being on his lap like that.. Before they left I was asking him about his flight plans this week.. He flew out to LA this morning and said his flight would be back Thursday around 8pm.. So SD spoke up and said you can leave the airport and come picks me up!. We have planned a vacation for next week for me, him, my BD and SD.. So he had planned to stay with me for alone time before vacation with the girls.. But we will just have to see how that works out. Well I text him about her behavior and explained to him what it looked like from the outside looking in.. The only response I got was that he didn't want to get into a texting debate.. And I told him in the text that I wanted to have the talk face to face but SD didn't go home this past weekend and that she would end up with him this coming weekend, then five days of vacation then she would probably stay that weekend also.. So I told him I didn't have a choice. That he let's her do as she wants and I couldn't make it thru an entire week on vacation without saying anything!! She isn't going to let him have a weekend alone.. I am hoping that since I sent that text, he will co e to my house alone when he gets home so we can talk.. I just don't know what to do if he acts like she does nothing wrong and turns it into me over- reacting.. If I have to I will go on vacation just to video them, so he can see for himself what it looks like when she is sitting on his lap with her arm around his neck!!! I love this man and I want it to work so very badly.. But I just have a feeling he is going to think her behavior is fine and I will just have to let him go for good:-(.. And I don't want that:(.. But I don't want people trying to figure out who his girlfriend is in public either!! HELP!

Comments

IslandGal's picture

You have a mini-wife on your hands and a disney dad. I've had to cope with most of this shit too. SD was 11 and still sleeping in her dad's bed. She was always extremely hard to put to sleep and from many nights of frustration and no-sleep, he found it easier just to let her sleep there. Until I came along.

I found this site.. and boy did it help me! First time I learnt the words "emotional incest" and "mini wife". Unfortunately, this is all on your boyfriend to fix. If he's still allowing her to do all these things, then he, as her parent, has to be the one to put a stop to it.

Maybe you should look up emotional incest and see if this fits.

My SO and I had to go and have counselling to save our relationship. Counsellor was fantastic. She made him see that he was actually damaging her future if he kept allowing her behaviour. My SO finally saw how he was enabling her to behave the way she was, and he put a stop to it. Unfortunately, that 'caused more dramas with BM and SD no longer visits.

This is absolutely 100% up to your boyfriend to fix, and untl he does, it ain't gonna stop any time soon. Ask him how he'd feel if someone pointed out how inappropriate this was, to his face? The sitting on his lap at 13? Hell, No! That is just :sick: Has she got a facebook? Maybe take a photo of her when she does this and plaster it all over her facebook. Kids are fantastic and getting other's to check their actions and maybe she needs them to see how pathetic she looks.

Tabitha255's picture

Yes she has Facebook and Instagram... That is a great idea!! He has Facebook also.. I will do that and one of them holding hands walking around! I should get some great pics on vacation next week!! I would love to see the comments!!! Thank you!!!!

Tabitha255's picture

Well he is coming straight to my house after his flight gets in to talk about the issues... So if it ends, I will hate not being able to get pics to post on social media.. I would love to see the feedback from his friends, her friends and the BM friends!

Shaman29's picture

You just wrote everything I planned to say to the OP.

OP - I realize you love this man and you have a bond. But I do have to wonder why you planned a vacation with this man after witnessing the unaltered behavior between your SO and his daughter.

As Echo said, he is not going to change. He does not view his behavior as improper. At some point he's going to tell you the problem is you and your view of their relationship.

katielee's picture

My DH used to not see anything improper about his daughter's Mini-Wife Behavior but with a lot of patience and talking on my part he finally made some changes. I wouldn't completely give up the relationship unless he is just totally resistant to trying to make any changes at all.

notsurehowtodeal's picture

Did I read correctly that you asked a 13 year old her bra size in front of her father? (Even if wasn't in front of him it was way out of line.) And that you think it is up to you to get her bras at Victoria's Secret just because she is wearing sports bras? That is so not your problem or your place - especially since you seem to be initiating it.

Tabitha255's picture

No we were outside alone.. I have been around her since she was born.. We didn't just meet when her dad and I started dating.. And I know that the BM would not dare spend child support on something SD needs.. I just felt bad because they treat her like a toddler and she really needs a bra..it was either me step up and say something or she would be wearing sports bras\ training bras forever... I didn't think of it that way, but I see your point. Thank you! Smile

Indigo's picture

Hey, Tab ... First off, Victoria Secrets is soooooo not an appropriate store for preteen/teen girls. Talk about sexualizing a child! It is geared more for college and young professionals who are sexually active or want to be. Besides, most women walk out of there wearing the wrong size bra with too big a band and too small a cup. Seriously. If you decide to "help" SO with this task, take SD to a respectable department store with bra fitters and hand her over. Encourage plain, basic white ... she has the rest of her life for the sexy stuff. (Unless you want to add "step-grandmother" to your resume.) Anyway, I digressed on that one ...

Second, SO is not available to have a relationship with you. He is too enmeshed with his daughter. It hasn't changed while you were gone. It sounds as if it is a firmly entrenched behavior which satisfies needs for both of them.

SO's half-assed attempts to sit next to you etc are really just lame attempts to appease you. I don't think that he truly means to relegate his daughter to child status. As soon as your back is turned he is right back encouraging, permitting and engaging in inappropriate behavior with his daughter. (Yeah, CPS dislikes witnessing this type of behavior since it smacks of a sexual predator grooming a child.)

He will stall, promise, and do whatever he can to keep his friend/sex partner around while he is getting emotional and physical needs met by his daughter. IMO

You can frowny face all you want, but you are in a one-sided relationship. Kinda like dating a married man. This one is just not available right now for a mature, adult relationship while you both raise children. Counseling for a few months isn't gonna fix this one. What you have RIGHT NOW is as good as it gets. It will get much worse.

Thank him for the joy you've had and RUN LIKE HELL.

Tabitha255's picture

He did just agree to come to my house and talk about this issue Thursday when he gets back to town..

dood's picture

.... if this is the situation, HE should sleep on the couch and let his DD have the bedroom.

This post is creepy... your SO is creepy...

Monchichi's picture

^this^ I haven't come up with the right words all day, so thank you dood. I am distinctly creeped out by this.

I have daughters and I would not allow this. Just eeuw. The Victoria Secret nonsense, again I have daughters and over my dead body is anyone including me buying them lingerie. Eeuw, to this whole post.

Monchichi's picture

I'll rephrase it better. My daughters are not sleeping in a flat in their fathers room to protect them from some flat mate. If dad needs to do this it means the other man is not safe. Again eeeuw is all I have. My eeuw is at the whole situation although in your scenario the father is doing the right thing.

Monchichi's picture

I stand by my eeuw of the whole post Blum 3 Someone tries to buy PPP or BabyD sexy undies I will throttle them.

Aniki-Moderator's picture

~smooch~

Aniki-Moderator's picture

~holds smelling salts under Monchichi's nose~

Jeez hon, it was just a peck on the cheek! LOL

Monchichi's picture

Just because you have a son and only 1 penii to worry about doesn't mean you have to pick on me.

~assumes fetal position while crying~

Monchichi's picture

Fungus has tainted you. Good girls still exist, even if they're locked in a tower on a deserted island taught by mute nuns.

EvilAngel's picture

I am really glad that Thunderfoot does not cling to DH because I would vomit. She gave him a back massage once (because she was in trouble and trying to kiss ass). THAT made me uncomfortable. Of course he was laying across the bed watching TV and she came in and asked if he wanted a massage. I had to leave the room. When I came back, she asked me if I wanted one. Ummmm no...I do not want your hands on any part of me. Thank you very much. Just hearing the word "Dadddddyyyyyyyy" in some baby voice is enough to make my skin crawl. If she was sitting on his lap and trying to hold his hand, no just no....

EvilAngel's picture

When she finally left I did say, "You know that was totally weird, awkward and inappropriate...right?" He didn't think so of course. I'm thinking...you are laying on the bed damn near naked and she is rubbing lotion on you. GROSS DH just GROSS! :sick:

Aniki-Moderator's picture

SD19 doesn't cling to my DH. Never has. I asked him about it once and he said, in his opinion, the clingy stuff is for LITTLE girls. Once they start school, it's time for the clingy to stop.

Monchichi's picture

PPP clings, in a wrestle tackle while punching SO in the stomach/ arm or when she tries to fart on him. I love my little tom boy until she gets all prissy, BAH.

Monchichi's picture

Yes farting is still funny to her at 7, I am letting the toilet humor age linger. I'm relieved to say boys are not on her horizon any time soon. She used to be quite toxic when she was still eating lentils and chickpeas.

SM12's picture

The only real comment I have on this post (because I am a bit creeped out by the behavior this girl and her father displays) is about the Victoria Secret comment. Yes it may have been a bit forward and really non of Tab's business. However, I do know that there are very few stores anymore that will actually fit you for a bra. They actually help you find the right size bra you should be wearing. I have done that myself. Once I found out what correct size I needed, I either bought them WAY cheaper online or at a less expensice store. And not ALL the bras at VS are sexy or slutty. They do have a line for teens. So really, other than the fact that Tab suggested it,,,VS is NOT the issue in this post.

Monchichi's picture

Thank you for that, I didn't know. Here is SA there is no teen line in VS. As a BM I would be highly offended by someone else taking my daughter to fit bra's if I am doing it. It's not her place after just 3 months of re-uniting with this man.

SM12's picture

Oh I totally agree...As a 13 yr old girl I would hav been moritfied to have my Dad's GF ask me about bras. Totally out of line. But a pretty minor offense compared to what she is seeing from BD and DD. :sick:

Ninji's picture

I think it depends on the relationship. I'm the only one that has taken my SD to buy bras. She asked me because her mom will not do anything for her and she's way to embarrassed to talk to dad about it.

Tabitha255's picture

Its the same with SD.. BM thinks that $1200.00 child support check is for her to blow on herself! I have been around SD since she was born, its not like we just meet.. I have been constantly in her life for 13 years.. And her behavior isn't due to divorce because DH and BM were never together. We all used to party together and it was a drunk in oops.. But of course no one wants to tell their child that.. So she thinks they dated for a while and broke up before BM found out she was pregnant and they remained friends.. The BM is completely irresponsible. She can't keep a car or a place to live. Its a bad deal for SD.. My children grew up without a father and theybdontbhabe any clingy disturbing behaviors!.. Some women just should not have kids and I am beginning to think that no wo!man should have a step child!

Willow2010's picture

I actually think this is an issue that would not even be an issue if we were not SM's.

And I have been guilty of this as well. I think we would view it as sweet if we were not SM's. JMHO.

Monchichi's picture

I am a BM and a SM. I did not shop for Chucky until I lived with my SO and we needed clothes for our house as BM kept sending 2-3 sizes too small. I only took the kid for a hair cut if SO was with me after he asked his ex wife.

Sometimes you need to stop and think before you rush in to "save the day" or be a "parent" to the step child. It has nothing to do with us being SM's. If the BM is a functioning participatory parent, keep your nose out is my view.

Mine isn't and I still keep out of it where it's not in my home and affecting my children. It is a fine line all step parents walk.

Monchichi's picture

What an awesome idea! I bought him his first Barbie, I can get him his first bra }:)

Unfreakingreal's picture

VS has a teen line, its called PINK. However, I would not pay VS money for bras for myself much less for SD. I took her bra shopping a few weeks ago because her POS mom never does ANYTHING for that girl. BM will go and spend hundreds on lingerie for herself, but her daughter? Nah, that's DH's job because you know the CS she gets isn't really for her child after all. I took her to TJ Maxx and bought her plenty of nice fitting bras that were appropriate for her age.
As far as the clingy shit goes… My SD14 is clingy with her father. Yes, it's annoying but personally, I don't see it as sexual behavior. I see it as her being an annoying kid that's always up her father's ass. He has learned how to push her off when she does something that bothers him. Like one time we were at my sons football game and she sat on the bleacher in front of DH and she leaned back in between his legs and rested her arms on his thighs. He pushed her forward and told her "Yo what's up with that? Move!"
So he knows when her actions are those that most resemble the actions of a lover and not a daughter.
OP - you left this guy because of this shit. It has gotten worse not better and it will probably NEVER get better. I'd walk if I were you.

Tuff Noogies's picture

"I see it as her being an annoying kid that's always up her father's ass." YES. THIS. combine that with a bit of a pissing contest, the kid trying to mark dh as their own territory.

yss used to do this shit ALL THE TIME. and every time i walked away cuz it pissed me off, made it worse. what finally helped was i'd snapped a picture of yss up in his lap. later on, i made it like i was looking through my pics, i showed dh a few then got to *that* picture. i said "aw look dh u and your baby." and moved on to the next pic. BUT things changed after that. every time i saw that behavior i'd give dh the "see? fix it." look - and he did, each and every time. he still follows dh around ALL the damn time, but the overly clingy shit and the physically trying to separate us - that's almost disappeared. he'll still try occasionally, but it never works.

OP - i wouldnt go the social media route, but try my tactic and see if that helps. sadly, like everyone above says, it's your DH/SO's fault this is happening, and until he sees anything wrong with it, it wont stop. if you cant open his eyes, u may need to reconsider if you are willing to live like this.

Unfreakingreal's picture

TuffNuggies - that's exactly how I handled it. SD used to PURPOSELY sit between DH and I in the movie theaters and if we went out to eat. I was a bit more stabby with my approach and would just tell DH "Oh no don't worry about me, go with your other wife." He KNEW it was the signal that "you better check this fucking behavior because its pissing me off."
With time it dissipated but every now and then, she pulls the cling card. I just ignore her ass.

Tuff Noogies's picture

oh but yes. i've developed a method of "herding" that no one else has picked up on yet. i strategically place myself to where yss physically cannot separate dh and i.

he'll still try to pull the co-sleeping crap too, every once in a blue moon, but dh shuts that down...

Ninji's picture

I NEVER get to hold SO's hand in pubic because SS9 is up his ass. I think I'm gonna start taking pictures. Me and SD ALWAYS walking behind the lovers SS9 and SO and them holding hands.

ctnmom's picture

If I were you, I wouldn't want MY DD around a man who lets a pre teen sit on his lap for 26 minutes. Your SO makes me shudder when I picture him. Sad

Cadence's picture

I'm not going to get into the bra argument, since you've got plenty of feedback on that piece.

I do think this is creepy. But do know that you need to be super careful in this discussion. Insinuate that something is wrong with your guy's daughter? Your guy shuts down. Insinuate that there is something wrong with his parenting? Your guy shuts down. This needs to be a discussion so you need to be reeeeally careful in your approach.

I didn't have a mini-wife with icky physical stuff (seriously, how does he hide the morning boner??? :sick: ), but there was an emotional companion situation early on between my SO and his adolescent daughter. It came to a head when she asked him a highly personal question regarding me/the workings of our relationship and he didn't hesitate to tell her. I flipped out. He couldn't even see how inappropriate it was to tell a child something incredibly personal about me that not even good friends or family know about. It was as if he'd elevated her to an adult and me to a child.

We spoke generally about it and I told him that it sucked for his daughter's development to make her into a little adult buddy. I sent him a couple of articles about opposite sex kids as emotional companions after divorce and the impact of burdening a kid with adult problems and how that impacts their development. He understood it and realized it wasn't a selfish thing coming from me; I simply saw something he couldn't see because he was too close to it. Also, the articles I sent placed no blame on anyone. I think this was one of the links I sent, emphasizing point 4: http://psychcentral.com/lib/kids-and-divorce-ten-tough-issues/ He got it that this is just something that happens because kids will want to take care of their parents and it's up to the parent to stop it.

As I see it with you , there are two problems here, one that impacts you directly and one that does not. But the one that does not impact you is influencing the one that does. The one that doesn't impact you directly is that he seems to be in a relationship with his daughter, at least in her eyes. The one that does impact you directly is that this means there is no room for him to have a relationship with an adult woman, because SD is inserting herself and competing with her new "rival" for dad's affections. Even though it doesn't impact you, he has to fix the first to fix the second.

So explain that you see an odd dynamic between the two of them, and that you did research and that this is something that can happen with divorced dads and their daughters. It's no one's fault. SD doesn't know any better and it may not even be conscious decision making on her part. He certainly didn't notice, because he thinks the closeness means he's being a good dad to her. Problems arise when the kid effectively considers herself dad's partner, they arise when physical gestures continue well past puberty, and they arise when dad tries to re-partner and kiddo feels replaced and starts a rivalry with the woman Dad actually wants to stick his penis in.

Give him some reading materials and make that the end of that discussion. I'd also point out, next time just the two of you (LOL - not if SD can help it!) are out somewhere and you can observe a nuclear family with their daughter(s). Ask him to look at the family. Ask if he notices any girls crawling all over the dad, or if they are trying to physically get between their parents. If it's little girls, ask how it might seem to watch that family if the girls were older and had breasts and were crawling all over their dad. Wouldn't it be a little icky to witness? Would the mere presence of mom discourage it? (Yes, because Mom is Dad's partner, so no room for minor daughter-girlfriends). Does the daughter seem to know her place as a child in the family structure? Get him thinking about these things.

I hope that's helpful. You want to bring these issues up without accusations. You want to assume the best of all parties, and that this is something that just happened, and it's coming to a head now because Dad is trying to be in a relationship with a woman other than SD. And that SD isn't going to stop naturally, it's on him to hold up proper boundaries with her. Those include: Dad has alone time with his girlfriend, when SD is with them she does not attempt to wedge herself between them, Dad holds hands with girlfriend and does other displays to make it known that girlfriend is the girlfriend, Dad starts to see his daughter as a child again and not his companion, Dad starts to parent and stop this dynamic because that is WHAT IS BEST for SD (even though it doesn't feel like it.) But you want him to see the problem for himself, and then help him come up with a new set of rules/actions for the "what if she does this?"s that will come up.

As for her sleeping in his room, that's a tougher one because of the roommate. If he had his own place, having her own space/room would be a no brainer. Ask him what the plan is for that, because that is a very tricky situation once puberty is involved, and kids are wiser to the world. (I mean, seriously, how does he explain the tent in his boxers? Eww.)

I hope that was helpful.

Tabitha255's picture

Thank you!,,, as far as the skeeping arrangements... He could sleep on the couch and give SD the bedroom.. But as far as the roommate she is a safe as a kitten sleeping on the couch. The roommate also has issues with her being so clingy to DH.. We have all been friends for almost 20 years.. So I have talked to the roommate about in this before and it creeps him out.

Tabitha255's picture

I am walking away. I refuse to get I to a pissing contest with a 13 year old... I absolutely refuse to let my daughter see this behavior! If he feels fine with that type of connection with his child, well he can spend his life with her! I can get by without a man! I paid off my house, I paid off my car, I bought my son a brand new 2014 Chevy for graduation.. I have two great kids! If I need any physical attention, there is a fine ass state trooper down the road at my disposal;-).. All I can say is I hope the daddy\daughter relationship is fulfilling!

Tabitha255's picture

I am walking away. I refuse to get I to a pissing contest with a 13 year old... I absolutely refuse to let my daughter see this behavior! If he feels fine with that type of connection with his child, well he can spend his life with her! I can get by without a man! I paid off my house, I paid off my car, I bought my son a brand new 2014 Chevy for graduation.. I have two great kids! If I need any physical attention, there is a fine ass state trooper down the road at my disposal;-).. All I can say is I hope the daddy\daughter relationship is fulfilling!