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Opposite sex stepsiblings

Jcksjj's picture

I have a DS who will be 9 this summer. SD will be 8 in a few weeks.

I have a lot of concerns about the fact that they will be living together when they arent related and opposite sex as they get older. SD has a solid history of lying for sympathy and attention already, as does BM. BM has made false abuss allegations against at least 2 of her exes that I know of...one she basically admitted to and laughed about it.

So for some background - a couple years ago MIL bought SD a tent to go on her bed. When she first put it up she skyped with MIL to show her. DS wanted to join the chat and kept asking if he could come in her tent too. MIL went absolutely insane over this and DH basically said well its probably because it's her bed and her personal space blah blah. 

SD has hated my son pretty much since she met us, but lately shes been back to being extremely needy and attention seeking again (I thought she was starting to grow out of it) and even though shes not normally very touchy feely when shes begging for attention that includes inappropriately hanging on people like a 2 year old. Hanging on teachers after school while they're trying to talk to other people, hanging onto my moms leg when shes holding my 1 year old nephew (shes not even close to my mom) etc.

So tonight I hear DH talking to the kids in the computer room where DS was playing on the computer and SD obviously had gone in there and joined. I can hear that DH is overly excited by her joining him and finds whatever they're doing just adorable. Turns out SD is practically sitting on DS lap watching a video. My reaction was that it made me uncomfortable because I dont really trust SD around DS anymore at all let alone sitting on his lap. I have no idea why DH finds this cute when it was just unthinkable for DS to even go in her bed tent when they were even younger. Except of course that hes obviously seeing visions of us as one big happy family.

So, for anyone with skids and bios of opposite sex close in age - what boundaries do you have and how close are the kids?

Comments

Monkeysee's picture

If you’re concerned about issues like that, and it seems like you’ve got grounds to be, Id start having talks with your DS & make sure they’re never alone together. It doesn’t sound like your DH is really in your corner on this, as he defended MIL’s outburst yet thinks it’s ‘cute’ when SD nearly sits on your sons lap, so I wouldn’t count on him for anything.

Speak up if things make you uncomfortable though! Tell her to get her own seat, and point blank say ‘this makes me uncomfortable. You need to give DS space’. What’s good for the goose is good for the gander, and the precedent has already been set.

Personally, if I had a DD around my SS’s ages, I wouldn’t want her sitting on their laps & I’d both her & them it wasn’t appropriate. You don’t need to sit & wait for SS to accuse your DS of anything malicious, start setting the boundaries now.

SteppedOut's picture

Spot on monkeysee! 

OP I'm sorry. This really sucks for you and it will for your ds as he gets older. Nothing is worse than feeling on edge in your own home.

Definately have a conversation with him about not being alone with her. But be sure to tell him not to tell her, so she doesn't TRY to make it happen. This will be tricky to do without making her sound "bad", but you want to keep any accusations of any "inappropriate behavior" from your son - they could really negatively affect his life. 

Jcksjj's picture

It is going to be really tricky. Especially when you factor in that as soon as SD senses someone is trying to keep a distance from her or is giving her less attention shes on them like superglue, even if it's someone she hated the day before that. 

Also, DS is a lot like DH when it comes to navigating social relationships (even though they arent related) and SD already is an expert on working him over since shes been doing it her whole life. Both of them tend to not pick up on subtle things very well and are both pushovers. Hopefully DS will get better at that as he gets older but hes definitely behind where SD is by quite a bit in that area.

shamds's picture

i had 2 kids with their dad aged 2 & 3, ss has never shown any attention or affection of his own accord to my kids, sd’s abandoned their dad over a year before i met him and were absent for about 5-6 yrs and only initiated contact almost 4 years into our marriage when we already had 2 kids. Exwife is a hcgubm narcissistic pas unstable psycho, she brainwashed all her kids even ss is pas’d from hubby... i am uncomfortable with our kids being left alone with any of the skids because for starters the extent of brainwashing and motives of sd’s aren’t clear just yet but there are concerns because they spew word for word bio mums bullshit, ss is incapable of having any relationship with our kids.

even though my skids and bio’s are related as half siblings, the relationship is like a stepsibling relationship, there is no real bond and with a high conflict bio mum no one trusts her... i have lost it with hubby when we were at family weddings and engagements and all skids were there he palmed off my daughter to his daughters to watch and totally ignored them, no supervision. Lo and behold all kinds of inappropriate stuff happened like they wanted to make my kids look bad in hubbys familys eyes and they just sit there totally innocent even when they’ve crossed the line. I told hubby if i were to be at a family event with skids all there, our daughter is with hubby, not left with sd’s because they haven’t proven they can be trusted alone with her, ss can’t be left alone with my kids because they aren’t used to him and would cry, hey see him as an awkward scary stranger... 

for now so i don’t lose my sanity i stay out of any family weddings that sd’s will be at until i know hubby has addressed these crossing of boundaries.... so far sd haven’t visited our home, they keep to themselves which my dad said i’m lucky for now because it would be a nightmare when they invade your personal boundaries 

oneoffour's picture

The tent thing was 2 years ago. And now SD wants to sit on DSs knee. SD needs to be encouraged to be independent and know she is loved/liked regardless. It sounds like everything is 'conditional'. Next it will be the "Do you think I am pretty?".

So tell SD the next time she gets too close to DS that she is too big to sit on other people and she needs to give DS some space. Tell her to get a chair or have a folding chair nearby. They are both getting too big to be climbing all over each other.

Encourage SD to be independent. Encourage your DS to do things with his own friends. But then they may move in the same circles and it will be good to have DS around to keep an eye on SD and vice versa. Do not doubt for a minute that your son will eventually become hormone infused and sullen and snotty. And stinky. As much as SD is annoying (which is likely learned behaviour) your son is not without potential annoyingness.

 

So working at BOTH of them being independent and not needing the attention of others means no one child is picked on. And respecting personal space.

Jcksjj's picture

Sorry, I'm having a really hard time following this answer. I'm aware my son will also go through puberty and there will be negative things going along with that?

Like you said SDs behavior is probably learned and shes learning it from BM (although I think in their case it's also somewhat genetic/mental health related because it doesnt seem to change much between situations and we havent been at all successful with any of the professional advice we've gotten) - who I have no control over and is her biggest influence. I have more influence over my own child so I can handle it differently and it's more in my control. I have no idea what them both having the potential to be annoying has to do with wondering what appropriate boundaries are for stepsiblings. 

Why would I waste time working on SDs issues with DS instead of working on the things he needs help with instead? Just because they're both kids doesn't mean they have the exact same issues. DS is actually the complete opposite and is in a social skills group at school to work on him joining his peer group more...

sunshinex's picture

I would absolutely speak up about this. 

I have an older brother and I don't recall ever, EVER being touchy feeling with him. We hugged on occasion but that's about as far as it went and we're still really close. But I mean, cuddling, sitting on his lap, and stuff? Nope. Ew. Super weird. I'm sure he cuddled me and was physically close when I was too young to remember but ever since I can remember, we had boundaries. 

Even on christmas eve when my sister and I would sleep in his room, he slept in his bed and we had a bed on the floor and neither of us desired to get close to him lol my sister and I, on the other hand, were always physically close. Not weird but we'd lay together in bed and such. 

I think you're well within your rights to say "SD, give DS some space. It's inappropriate to be on top of him." 

Jcksjj's picture

That's what I thought too as far as my brothers. I mean I have one that's 6 years younger so when he was a baby and toddler I definitely held him and stuff but I dont remember ever being like that with my brother that's 2 years younger. It's actually completely out of character for SD also so I was really thrown off by it, but then like I said earlier that she was hanging on her classroom helper after school and stuff too which I've never noticed any other kids doing at school. So idk what her deal is right now because there hasn't been any changes in her life that I'm aware of. I think I'll just tell them they need to give eachother personal space if it happens again.

Chmmy's picture

You are putting your son in a bad situation. Id never have my boys here with these wacko SDs I have. You can talk to your son all you want, SD is the problem. Keep your son out of the house when she is there. Stay with your family, have him stay with hos bio dad. Sounds terrible but you shouldnt have put your son in this situation.

ctnmom's picture

this is an accident waiting to happen. I'm sorry, but with an attention whore SD and a accusitory BM, your son could be in for trouble. I would be petrified of SD getting him labeled a sexual offender . 

Ispofacto's picture

My son is almost 24, and Killjoy is 15.  Starting when they were 15 and 6, BM started coaching Killjoy to say DS was creepy and scary.  DS was completely uninterested in Killjoy, very rarely home, played sports, had his own friends and his own life, including a GF.  He knew he was in BM's crosshairs, so the minute he graduated HS, he moved out, right after DH filed for custody.  During the custody fight, BM kept it up, not realizing DS had moved out.  Killjoy was supposed to tell someone he hurt her, physically or sexually I'm not sure.  It was a Fail, because DS hadn't seen Killjoy in months.  It was a close call though, IMO.  Then BM turned her sights on me and DH for the "abuse".  

 

Jcksjj's picture

Wow. Well I dont think BM would do that because she does not want SD anymore than half time and only then so she doesnt have to pay CS. I cant see her jeopardizing her freedom she gets half the time for anything. BUT since SD is so much like her and BM made false accusations for sympathy or attention all the time in the past (and probably still does, I witnessed her do it once when I first started dating DH) I can see SD still picking up on it that way.