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I resent my SD, is this normal?

Klyn1133's picture

I am engaged to what I consider the love of my life. He has a two year old daughter and I have a one year old daughter. We have full custody of mine and joint of his, week on/off. She is ruining our relationship! She is an absolute brat, let me tell ya some things she does: she throws fits all the time and whines constantly when she doesn't get her way she slams her head on the ground or when we say no she crys, while in time out she screams for 40 minutes straight till we have to put her in her crib, she will out right ignore us when we talk to her or give her directions, she won't eat anything, she takes her sleepers off then takes her diaper off and gets pee and poop everywhere, she is mean to my daughter by trying to steal her toys or slams her fingers in the play kitchen door or steals her toys and if my daughter doesn't let go of the toy his daughter stomps on her leg! I am at my wits end. She drives me crazy to the point I want to smack her. I can't handle the no listening and the fact she is teaching my daughter negative behaviors. My daughter is missing out in positive attention while his daughter gets negative attention constantly. We can't go in public the weeks we have her because she is so naughty and the weeks we don't have her we are relaxed and in a routine. I seriously am contemplating leaving my fiancée because I don't like his daughter. I feel like a terrible person but I resent her now because it's tearing my man n me up and hurting my daughter in the process. I think I never bonded with her because since I've known her n been in the picture she's been a monster. What should I do!? Help!!

onthefence2's picture

While this is typical "normal" behavior for her age, I would suggest looking at her diet and removing sugar, food additives, and possibly grains and/or dairy. What she is doing is not "normal" to me, but it sounds like something more going on than mom not disciplining. To keep from telling her no all day, give her choices when appropriate. "Do you want to put your shoes on yourself, or do you want me to help you?" instead of, "Put your shoes on," to which she can just refuse. Make her feel like she is in control, so when you HAVE to be in control and tell her no, she hasn't heard it 20+ times already. The older she gets, the more choices she will have, but always give two options when possible.
"Do you want pig tails, or a barette in your hair?"
"Do you want to wash your hands, or brush your teeth first?"
"Do you want eggs or yogurt for breakfast?"
"Should we go for a walk, or go to the park?"
As long as you don't care which she chooses, you all win. And this is attention that she will eat up.
Good luck!

Frustr8d1's picture

It's almost impossible to fix and set limits for any kid if one parent is setting limits while the other one isn't. With your SD spending every other week with BM, you will end up trying to reverse damage that BM has done all week. I know exactly how hard that is and our BM only visits once a year! BM did significant behavioral damage to SD and we spent months trying to retrain her back to normalcy. I wouldn't blame you for wanting to leave. It's a lifetime of hardship with a skid who gets half their influence from a bio who does the opposite of what you do. Resenting SD is perfectly normal.

Steppy MN2's picture

I have a 2 year old GS and he doesn't behave like that. Oh yes, he has an occasional meltdown but then it's time out and he doesn't scream for 40 minutes of time out, it might be about 30 seconds and then that's it. He understands that time out doesn't end until he can calm down. Frustr8d1 has it right. One parent can't fix it when it's one on/one off. You didn't talk much about how your fiance handles this situation but unless he is really stepping up big time, it looks like you will always have huge problems. Your little baby should be your first concern. She will only be little once. I know it's hard but, I'd run fast and far!

christinen's picture

What Frustr8d1 said is so true. My SD only sees BM on the weekends but it takes about 3 days for her to start acting right again after she gets home.
She has no rules, no structure, and no discipline there. She is pretty much free to do what she wants, when she wants. Mind you, she's only 6 years old. She has no bedtime there, nothing.

It is impossible to raise a child correctly when you have the other parent sabotaging your efforts. I've been with DH since SD was 1 and while I do see some improvement (no thanks to anyone but myself), SD is still very bratty and entitled.

To answer your question, YES it is perfectly normal to resent your SD, especially in this type of situation. I feel the same way you do. I dread her coming and can't wait for her to be gone. I just hate it.

FTMandSM's picture

I feel the way you do. My BF's daughter, who is 3, is with us on the weekends. She has the worst attitude. She cries constently and is mean to everyone, her Gma, her dad, myself, everyone. I understand that she is young and this behaviour is looked as "normal". We have rules in our household, and at her mother's, she gets away with everything. One time when her mom picked her up, she didn't want to go, so she slapped her and pulled her hair. Of course BM didn't do anything just let it happen. I agree with what pp said, it's not going to change if only one parent is disciplining. Every weekend she gets worse.

Klyn1133's picture

So I have been doing alot of thinking and I would like yall's advice. I know some people hold off on marraige until their significant other's children are grown or out of the house to maintain a good relationsip.

Would it be okay to live in separate households but stay engaged until my step daughter is older because my fiancees BM lives two hours away so we will go back to court to have one parent get primary so she can go to school. So either we will get her full time and hopefully we can get her behavior under control or the BM will get her full time and I will only have to deal with her every other weekend. This will take place in about a year or two..