You are here

Step Mother dreamHaving Privacy

Stepmothertobe39's picture

Dear all,

I was very hesitant to share my experience, however, after reading more about similar situations I felt that I may get some good advice. I love my fiance who has 3 sons (24,21,17).

The house where I will be moving in for marriage is like a hotel for their sons who partially live between their dad's house and their mother's. They come and go without any notice and they make mess. My fiancé asks me to cook for his older son who barely acknowledges my presence when I visit. I feel sometimes like I am a second- class citizen inside that house when I am there especially when my husband- to- be keeps appeasing to his sons to garner their friendship. I witnessed a rude debate between the older son and the father where I felt very uncomfortable witnessing my love being talked down to in front of me. Later when 8 tried to point that out to my fiancé; he defended his rude son and told me that I was reading too much.

I know I love my fiancé to a point that I can easily swallow my pride but it can get to a point that I feel like a guest inside a house I will be moving in it in the fall. There are no boundaries and my fiancé has no persona at all with his sons. The divorce was due to betrayal from the wife so it wasn't his fault. He is constantly overcompensating to appease to his sons to a point he denies all his rights. I understand he is a loving father but what about me?

stepping in a minefield surrounded by rude and obnoxious stepsons especially the older one who is constantly mocking my fiancé even when I am present. I offered one night to cook dinner for his older son who was staying over his dad's for a long a period of time. I treated the SS like a king cooked for him and served him. The next morning, he came downstairs without acknowledging me or even saying good morning so I felt so bad as I was hired to be the maid for that spoiled SS. Then later during lunch my fiancé made a quick lunch for me and him and when I told him he could eat my sandwich, he refused and told me that he would take it to his son (the 24 years) instead. Lastly at night I needed to take a bath in our private bedroom like any couples who would hope for privacy; I found the SS was in our bathroom showering. There are 2.5 bathrooms in the house one for the boys with full tub and one inside the master room, and small one downstairs for the guests without shower.

My fiancé asked me to leave the room as it would be inappropriate for me to stay in the room as his son may come out from the shower not totally dressed so I did leave the room and went downstairs. 
I was kind of surprised of why the SS was using our private bathroom inside the master room , and when I asked my fiancé for the reason he told me that he never stoped his son from using his master room bathroom ever before.

What would I do with a man who barely can set any boundaries with his sons?

how could I move in to a house I would barely have any privacy in it?

I have a teenager son who will be moving in also to thst house, I am too worried to expose him to that environment.

Should I simply walk away and leave my fiancé? I love him dearly but I need to have peace and privacy.

Am I asking for too much?

 

 

Winterglow's picture

I  would make it a condition for getting married that you move to a "yours" (plural) home BEFORE the wedding. Don't move into his house as things stand because nothing will change. What you need is a 2-bedroom place with a bedroom for you and a guest room/office. Give the kids plenty of time to find alternative solutions and move out. This is the ONLY way you'll ever get them to leave. A second condition for getting married is that none of them gets to move into your new home or you will LEAVE.

Kes's picture

It would be foolhardy in the extreme to move into your fiance's house expecting things to change.  I would not rush into marriage with this man, either.  He has shown himself to be useless at setting any boundaries for his adult sons, two of which should have already moved out into their own places.   Your fiance is behaving more like their obsequious servant than their father.  The thing about SS24 showering in your en suite was ludicrous!    I think Winterglow's idea of getting your own marital home is a good one, but personally I would not have marriage high up on my to do list at all.  I'd leave it another year and see how you feel.  

notarelative's picture

Do not move in unless you want no privacy and to be a servant to his kids. Date this guy if you want, but do not marry him until all the kids are out of the house and fully launched. 

hereiam's picture

There is absolutely NO WAY that I would move into that house. Nor would I subject my son to it.

Rumplestiltskin's picture

I am in a similar situation and currently working towards establishing boundaries that i can live with. It hasn't been easy and we aren't there yet.

My conditions are no BM in the house (and not in the driveway/yard unless it's necessary) and a kid-free bedroom. It's been almost 2 years, and we still aren't there yet. It was hard, but i had to clearly spell out what i could and couldn't deal with, and i give no slack when a boundary is violated.

If i find one of the kids in the bedroom, i tell my SO calmly that they are there. It is then on him to enforce the rule. If SO is in there with them, i calmly say "i thought we made the decision that the bedroom would be kid-free." If i see a suspicious pork chop in the fridge, i say "did BM come over and bring food again in the middle of your custody week? I've told you I won't move into a house where she comes and goes as she pleases." 

I have decided i won't even think about moving in with him until these 2 simple things no longer need to be corrected regularly. These are my deal breakers. I will keep trying as long as i see effort from my SO or until i get tired of being the refrigerator and bedroom police ("And WHERE did this chicken come from?!")

Don't move in until he shows he can make and stick to the bare minimal changes needed for you to not be miserable living with him. He may say he will change after you officially live there. He may say things will be different if it's a new house. Don't believe him. He is a weak parent and you need proof he will keep his word. And BTW all those kids are old enough that pretty much any boundary you set for their behavior in a home you share will be appropriate, up to having them live elsewhere for all but the 17-year-old. 

 

simifan's picture

2 Years? If he can't man up after 2 years, do you really expect him to? When do you give up and move on? 

Rumplestiltskin's picture

That's the question, isn't it? I feel we are almost there, and things were horrifically bad in the beginning. There are a lot of positives, also, that make it worthwhile, and i'm actually happy in my own home. I'm not ready to give up so i look at it as not that i'm starting fights to be negative but i'm fighting for our relationship. Either things get to a point where the relationship has a future or the fights get to be too much. Either way, i will know i have done all i could to make it work. I'm not able to just shut off my brain and accept certain things. And there were many things that were totally unacceptable going on in the beginning. 

WarMachine13's picture

Walk or keep living separately. 

ALL of those 'kids' are old enough to cook their own food. 24?? Shoulda been cooking for a good 10 years by now. Dang.

shamds's picture

even my husband finds it 100% inappropriate for a skid to be in our bedroom or bathroom. 

The fact your partner says they are free to use master bathroom or chill out in master bedroom, he needs to remember you both are not family and it’s inappropriate to toss you to the side for ss which is what he is doing

Exjuliemccoy's picture

Listen to your gut. It's your warning system, and it's telling you NOT to marry this man or move in with him. If you do, you'll be miserable and subjecting your son to a lot of upheaval.

This man isn't doing the work of preparing his life and home for you. He isn't standing up for you or insisting his sons treat you with respect. He isn't able to draw even the smallest of boundaries with his rude sons, and has shown he wants you to play servant to them. Their lifestyle is unstructured and chaotic, which doesn't seem a good fit for you. He's a weak, guilty parent and he wants you to accept poor treatment from his kids, just as he does. 

 Cr@ppy parents don't make good partners, so this man doesn't sound at all "amazing" to me. Have you brought up your concerns with him? What does he say, and has there been any improvement? Have you stood up for yourself, or are you just going with the flow?

There are huge red flags flapping all over your relationship, but as Rumplestiltskin points out, you will never have more leverage than now, so use it. In steplife you have to be able to stand up for yourself, speak up, draw and hold hard boundaries, and not accept poor treatment. Your fiance is showing you that he is a doormat and expects you to be one, too. Now that your eyes are open, start drawing some boundaries with this man. If he cant/won't hold his sons to basic standards of behavior, protect yourself and your son. DO NOT MARRY unless he demonstrates that he is able to parent effectively, or you will regret it.

Rags's picture

This has so many red flags it could be a Chinese Communist Party parade.

Your SO wants a live in beck and call girl for he and his adult sons. One with benefits for him.

Do not ruin your own child's life by exposing him to the shallow and polluted gene pool that created these three failed men.  And for F sake, what would possibly be appealing about this idiot failed father?

And no, you shouldn't walk away.  You should RUN!

Stepmothertobe39's picture

Dear all,

I have taken your advice into consideration and I wanted to share this wonderful Bill of Rights that I stumbled upon here on this site so all of us can benefit from. I also share it with my fiancé and made it as a condition for our marriage. He is not willing to agree on the door locks change request neither is he willing to reduce the schedule for his 17 year old to two days a week instead of four. Anyway, I will never move forward to marriage u less he agrees on my bill of rights based of love.

After deep thinking all day and In case of you don’t know my bill of rights as wife and as step mother:

1. Our marriage/partnership is our first priority, and we will address all issues together. (Only the two of us and no intervention from anyone including your sons)

2. I will be part of the decision-making process in my marriage and family at all times. Meaning don’t you ever exclude me from any discussion related to our lives and tell me “ MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS.”

3. People outside the both of us; in-laws and adult children cannot make plans that affect my life without my consent.

4. I will not be responsible for serving or cooking for sons for whom I cannot set any limits or boundaries. Don’t obligate me to be the maid. 

5. Don’t give your sons impression that I would be their servant hence they get to degrade me.

5. I must be consulted about how many days Your 17 years old son will live with us, when Your 24 or your 21 would visit for privacy as a wife.

6. I will not be solely responsible for housework; chores will be distributed fairly. I am obligated only to serve my husband and my own kids.

7. I will be consulted regarding all family financial matters. No unilateral decision no “ MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS”. We are life partners not dudes meeting at a bar for a drink.

8. Others may not violate my private space ( my private bathroom, my bedroom at home, nor take or use my possessions without my permission. Change the main door locks and instructions you need to provide your 17 years old who would partly live wit us due to school not to give the key to any of his brothers and that would be violation and you need to hold him accountable if he does that. His who’re mother never gets inside our house for any reason. 

9. I will never be treated as an “outsider” in my own home or abused by anybody including you. If you ever hit me I will leave you.

10. You my dear husband and my stepchildren must treat me and treat my son with respect.

11.Equal treatment for both your sons and my son in my marriage home by all sides of the family and there will not be any difference in discipline or praise between ANY of the children in my home. 

12. Never say “MY KIDS’HOUSE” once we are married the house is our marriage home no longer your kid’s house

13. Your 24 years old son needs to move out and be on his own before me and my son move in the house.
14. Your 17 years old needs to be with his mother on Wednesdays as well as Sunday's as transitional to have my new kids.reduced from 4 to 2 as a transitional move toward marriage.

I discussed these rights with my fiancé who seemed reluctant with some especially the door locks and no more keys to his older sons to drop by Willy nilly to the marriage house.

By all means; I am not going to move in nor would I expose my son's life to this environment without seeing any changes. I love my fiancé but I love my peace and privacy (PP) more. 
 

will keep you posted when things progress 

Thank you all.

 

 

shamds's picture

My husband asked me to do this and cook ss favourite dish which was focaccia bread. I had a daughter already and said to hubby one day “eff this, your kid is 18, abusive, shuns us and pretends we don’t exist, doesn’t acknowledge us, treats me like a maid and tells hubbys family that is my job (they told him off immediately and to lose that smug face of his when he said that), then when i cook dinner with a newborn, hubby tells me to knock on his sons bedroom door and ask him to eat dinner and ss won’t even open his door he keeps mumbling stuff so i firmly told hubby “you have a rude disrespectful pos for a son and on what planet is it acceptable that he treat me like this and you enable and encourage it?? Then you have the nerve to demand i cook dinner for him and knock on his door and be speaking to him for several mins trying to get him to eat dinner?? I am not his little bitch maid!! I cook what i want and he deserves no special treatment from me and you have no shame to demand it!! I cook what i want and i put it away, its upto ss if he gets it from the fridge to reheat but he has no shame to be eating any of my cooking with the way he behaves”

now when hubby gets home from work he forces ss to get out of his room to eat dinner and ss will eat on his own. There is no “thanks for dinner” he eats and goes to his room... manners do not exist with my skids but they are not a reflection of my parenting but their bi parents. How is it my 4.5 year old is constantly asking “may i have this”, “please” or even “thankyou” and adult teen skids are incapable of it??

Wicked stepmo.'s picture

If you want to continue a relationship with this man. That's up to you. But, I would not move any further forward in the relationship as things stand right now. As a matter of fact, I would consider taking a few steps back and insisting if he wants to see you, it is at your home where you can be comfortable.  You have made him aware of your boundaries so it it up to him to make changes if he wants to be with you.

Ela's picture

I am always fighting with my bf about bedroom things. For me bathroom is fine. But when it comes to bedroom - I am not letting for ANYBODY  go in and especially to sleep in my bed except me and my bf..and we are having fights all the time about this.....

Loxy's picture

My skids are nearing adulthood, SS15 and SS16, and there is no way we will be letting them come and go as they please between our house and BM's house when they are adults. 

They don't have house keys now and won't be getting one unless they choose to live with us full-time after finishing high school (custody is currently 50/50). We expect the kids to choose a house to live in upon completion of high school and any visits to the other house (whether it's for dinner, a cuppa or staying overnight) need to be pre-arranged. 

We are expecting staunch opposition to this plan from SS16 and also BM. SD16 does not like making decisions or boundaries. She will want to change households on a whim, based on where she gets the best deal on any given day and BM would support this. But adults don't behave that way and we won't be allowing her to behave that way.

My hope is that she chooses to live with BM when she finishes high school end of next year as I honestly could not stand having her live with us full-time. SS15 will end up living with us full-time at some point and that's fine with me. But if SD decides to live with us (which I think is unlikely) then I'll make sure I don't make it easy for her ie I won't be doing her washing or any chores for her like changing her sheets etc and if she isn't studying full-time then she will need to work and pay board.