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HELP!!

terminus's picture

Hi all, my name is Thomas and I have been dating my gf for 2 years now. I am 32 she is 36 and has an 11 year old daughter. When we first started dating I noticed that her daughter (then 9) was kind of a brat. I didn't think much of it at first because, lets face it most kids can be annoying, and I spent limited time around her. The past year however has been grueling to say the least. This 11 year old girl is rude, disrespectful, ill-mannered, self-centered, manipulative and does not mind. She wont do anything we say without having to get mean about it every time. she does not mind or respect her mother. This kid whines like a 5 year old from the times she opens her eyes in the morning until she closes them at night. She never speaks in a normal voice, its either a pathetic whine or a slurpy sweet persuasive voice. She's either whining or manipulating. When she is asked to do something she begins to negotiate and talk her way out of it, or she will just simply ignore us, she never just does what we say without a fight. She is mean/overbearing with the animals (cat and dog) she is jealous and angry that the animals prefer to sit in my lap, and they run from her. she has tortured the dog to the point that if she even tries to touch the dog it growls and snaps at her (Chihuahua) the cat is old and she man handles it and traps it in her room like a small child would do. She has to be the center of attention constantly. You cant have a conversation without her butting in a dozen times with off the wall ridiculous questions that don't pertain to the conversation were having. She is so obnoxious my family has asked me to limit my bringing her around when possible, and I get the feeling gf's family feels the same way just by the way they act toward her. She has a smart ass remark for everything I say to her/ask her. She has fall down, kicking tantrums when she doesn't get her way. She treats everyone like her personal slave, shes so lazy she yells for mommy to do everything for her. During the span of one shower she will yell for her mom to come help her at least 5 times, she needs help turning the water on, she never remembers to get a towel or underwear/clothes etc.

So, a few months ago I had finally gotten my fill of her laziness and disrespect, especially her disrespect toward her mother. I think if you respect anyone or listen to anyone, ever, it should be your mother, even if you don't like what she has to say. So I laid down the law!! Since I have known her she would never bathe on her own without having to be told again and again to do so. She never went to bed when she was told to and stayed up till early AM hours and was impossible to wake up in the mornings for school, which resulted in her mother being late for work every day and the kid being late for school every day, which eventually led to her mother losing a very good job for being late so often. Gf agrees that the kid needs some work and has asked me to pitch in several times, at first I was uncomfortable and apprehensive, and still am somewhat uncomfortable dealing with the kid, as im not very good at it and my approach has been unsuccessful no matter how many different ways I approach her.

At any rate, her mother and I sat her down and told her how it was going to be. We told her that there were rules that she had to follow or else. We told her that she had to bathe every night before bed without fighting about it, she had to go to bed by 9 pm at the very latest without fighting about it and that she was responsible for cleaning the litter box every day and failure to comply would result in losing her T.V. in her room. It went pretty well for a few weeks and then began to slack off, so I mentioned it to GF and we had a discussion about it and while she will talk about it I can tell that she doesn't like what I have to say. She asked me recently why I hated her kid so much. (I don't hate the kid, I simply dislike her behavior.)So after a bit of a tense discussion, the kid arrives home from school and after she came in and threw her stuff in the floor (like always) her mom said " you didn't clean the litter box yesterday and it stinks, go do it right now, and ill fix you a snack," the kid immediately told her no, and holy shit GF came un-glued, jumped up grabbed the kid by the arm and marched her down the hallway, chewed her out for not minding and stood there while the kid had a screaming crying kicking fit and made her clean the litter box. Moments later, she comes storming into the kitchen and asks, "is that what you fu**ing wanted?!!" I said no it isn't, but that may be what it takes since you have let the kid get this far out of control. It pissed me off and after a few minutes of pondering, I told GF that I was done trying to make rules and discipline the kid, and she seemed relieved that I said so. Immediately after I said those words, the kid is back to bathing as she pleases, she is staying up as late as she wants again she doesn't clean the litter box daily, and she has kind of a smug satisfaction toward me, like she won..ha ha..you cant tell me what to do.

My gf and I have had some super rocky hills, shes clingy and very insecure, she requires more attention than I can ever give, she has a ton of emotional baggage and she wants to consume every moment of my time. She puts more focus on our relationship than she does on working with her child, even though I have explained to her that I don't need her undivided attention, but her child does. To her credit she is a hard working professional that for the most part handles her business. after all this I asked her if it would be easier if I just left. I think the kid resents me for coming into the picture and trying to provide a routine and some structure, she associated me with the discomfort of having to be accountable for her actions. Gf flips out and says if you leave Ill probably kill myself. I don't believe for one moment that she would do it, I think that was a pathetic attempt and the lowest possible form of emotional blackmail.

The bottom line is, I cant stand the kid anymore, when the kid is at school all is well, but everyday when its time for the school bus, I automatically get tense and anxious in anticipation of the loud, obnoxious monster that is about to bust through the door. Am I a complete ass for feeling this way? Would I be in the wrong for rolling out?

Comments

frustratedinNE's picture

Run for the hills and run fast. This girl will be an adult brat sucking the life out of your GF and yourself.

Aeron's picture

She's clingy, needy, tries to put the parenting of her kid on you then gets pissed at you for it, threatens suicide..... You are dating a total wack job. The suicide thing would seal it for me personally even if I didn't dislike living with the kid. People that go that route usually just get worse with the threats and the craziness. Get out ASAP.

sunny_skies's picture

Hi Thomas, it sounds like you're having a rough time and I'm sorry for that Sad

ok, first, that was really hard work to read in one big chunk, JustWow is right, splitting your post up into much smaller paragraphs would be much easier to read, and you'd probably get more responses and advice if people were able to read your post easier x

BUT saying that, I hope this will be your first and LAST post on STalk ..I'm not saying that you shouldn't post anymore, it's just that your situation sounds so emotionally unhealthy and upsetting, that I personally think you should leave your GF, find a nice girl without a spoilt brat in tow, and not *need* to post here anymore!!! xx

My two cents.. Your GF does not agree with the way you'd like to parent this child, GF has shown anger towards you for attempting to show SD some kind of responsibility (I completely agree with you btw, I think children thrive on being told "good job!" for getting their chores done) 

..and you will forever be fighting a battle over this as you just quite simply do not see things the same way with regards to raising a decent, well behaved and responsible child.

In my opinion this is a battle that will be too emotionally draining/ frustrating for you to fight for the rest of your life.. and if you *do* decide to stop fighting that battle, (and let your GF allow SD to get away with doing what she wants) it will only get worse and you will end up living with an *even worse* SD when she hits teen years and becomes even more defiant.

The *only* way a step family works in my opinion is if the step parent is shown some kind of respect from the child, and it's clear from your post that SD has been given the go ahead (by GF) to completely ignore you and disrespect you.

This battle is not worth fighting and I must say, GF's threat to kill herself was utterly ridiculous, my ex did the same to me when I said things weren't working and maybe we should seperate.. 

He even cut his wrists and laid down beside me to fall asleep that night. He didn't cut deep enough to cause serious harm, he just wanted to frighten me into staying with him because I woke up and freaked out when I saw his wrists and the blood on tissues around the bed.

Which was even more cruel as my own dad committed suicide. My ex didn't care about my emotions with that situation. He just didn't want me to leave. Of course I did shortly after. He is still alive and still being pathetic somewhere, most likely still causing some other poor girl grief and living his life with the selfishness it sounds like your GF has.

It is not your responsibility to stay in an unhealthy relationship just because you've been threatened that your partner will commit suicide if you leave.

She is an adult woman, a professional with a child. She is just threatening you to frighten you into staying. Which is even more unhealthy than everything that you had already described before even mentioning that.

Get out of this relationship before it destroys you as a person. You can do it.

terminus's picture

Thank you for responding, I tried to make it short, there was actually so much that I left out because I knew it was too long already. hopefully this will be my last post here...ever...but if not Ill make it more reader friendly next time. This is the first time I have dated a woman with a child and what a freakin nightmare it has been

furkidsforme's picture

You are a 32 yo man with no kids.

Do you know how many women out there are DYING to meet a single 32 yo guy with no kids? TONS!!! HOTT ONES, TOO!!!!

Come on, dude. No pussy is worth that shit.

Whatever it is that is making you stay- White Knight Syndrome, or maybe she's the hottest girl you ever dated, or whatever... get over it and move on.

terminus's picture

Right on man...she isnt near the hottest girl Ive dated and I have found her so increasingly unattractive that we haven't had sex in a couple months..I think having to leave somehow makes me feel like I have failed somehow. Thanks btw for reading and commenting, you guys are giving me the momentum I need

ChiefGrownup's picture

Everyone feels like they have failed when a relationship ends but the truth is the real failure would be to waste your life on this situation.

No sex in 2 months? Ruuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuunnnnnnnnnnn!!!!!!!

terminus's picture

I guess there is no shame in failure, true failure imo is the refusal to participate. I participated and...it sucked! And I just cant bring myself to be intimate with her anymore. Shes a super good looking blonde but the misery that lies within has brought me to my knees!

ChiefGrownup's picture

You absolutely must leave this woman. You are young. Why on earth saddle yourself with this crazy stuff. Threatened suicide if you left? Oh, hell, no. The end. Done. Gone. Get out.

Picture yourself at 42 and this woman is feeling more insecure than ever. Picture that kid at 21, throwing grandbabies in your face and constantly needing support and bailouts. This is going to get nothing but worse. Really. Believe me.

The eleven year old you describe is off the charts. But nothing compared to what she will be at 15.

Your GF already lost a job over her failure to parent in any sort of normal manner. Everything you find attractive about her will fade away entirely as her kid gets more and more unmanageable. But you will feel an even bigger sense of enmeshment with her and your ability to leave will be handicapped.

Get out now. Thomas, you can not save this woman. You can not save this child. You. can. not. save. them.

Save yourself instead.

BTW, part of why your GF lets the girl act like that is your GF is so insecure she keeps the girl needing her by refusing to let her grow naturally and become independent as kids are supposed to do. Your GF has big problems and you simply cannot fix her.

terminus's picture

Thank you. I totally agree with your last statement too, she refuses to let the kid grow, at all. I tried to connect with her once by teaching her to drive my truck out in a big open field at my dads, now gf refuses to ever let the kid go anywhere with me because of it because it was "wreckless and dangerous," kind of a blessing really

terminus's picture

I halfway expected someone to tell me I was being too harsh and mean and to stay and get counseling and all that happy horse shit, but so far the vote is unanimous. Which makes me feel better about the decision to leave!!

ctnmom's picture

These wise ladies have said it better than I ever could. I want to add one more point that hasn't been made however (while agreeing wholeheartedly with all the above responses). You don't like this kid, you JUST DON"T LIKE her, and she doesn't like you either. You've been at it for 2 years, I think the stage has been set, the pie has been baked so to speak. This situation isn't going to get better, and it has high potential to get much, much worse. Go take a gander at the "Adult Stepchildren" forum if you really want to have nightmares tonight. Good luck and God bless.

No where in the bible does it say you have to be a doormat for someone else's rudeness.

ChiefGrownup's picture

This is a very kind plan (from a very kind person) but I think this chick is too far beyond the norm for this to be worth the young man's while. She threatened suicide if he broke up with her! Dealbreaker for me. She's not noticed things are dire even after 2 months of celibacy. She is just too far gone into her own issues to make a suitable partner. He simply cannot fix her and that's what he'd have to do. A fool's errand, imho.

That chick certainly ought to go into therapy for her own sake but he owes her nothing now but a clean break.