Amazing how they only think of you when they need something. I'm glad you ignored his "request" and handled it very classy. I hope you never buy anything for any of them EVER....

Great way of disengaging!

I think I would be very tempted to say.."Oh..you would like a PS4 for your birthday?  Well.. I have an even better Idea.  I will be getting you what you got me for my birthday.... I really liked it."

Let his wheels spin on that.

That is awful. 

Those are the kind of people you stay away from. 

While parents are most definatly an ATM periodically it should be a very short and transient phase of our lives.

Somtimes even our kids need to be ignored and left to their own devices.  The older they get, the more this should be the case.  Particularly when they are being Rump Twinkies.

Yep. DH never consults me about skids until they need a ride or a birthday gift. This year I am going to ignore SDs birthday. Luckily her bday falls on a no skid weekend. DH asked me to give SD a ride the other day and I took that opportunity to tell him that he doesn’t include me on kid stuff except when he needs a favor. He needed me to do the favor for him so he was apologetic but if I would have brought it up when he didn’t need the favor he would have flew off the handle like he usually does because he’s like a pit bull ready to lunge at people.

When it comes to money or stuff they want, it's amazing how cunning people can be.  The sad part SA is that it is affecting the values and personality of your gskid.  Rotten trees often produce rotten fruit.  Keep your laughs at the ready, and let SD's bullsh!t roll. 

so focus on them.  When you are in this kind of situation with gskids being twisted by SDs, then it's best to keep your heart on a back burner.  I've already steeled myself for the day when SD has her first baby - it's already a given that her father will be of much lesser importance than the almighty BM, and I won't even be a blip on the radar screen.  Thus, I will treat these kids like I would a temporary co-worker's - cute, but no permanent relationship here so don't invest any emotional energy on it.  

Brat-In-Training. Me, me, me. What about giving back? Maybe writing a card for step grandma just because?  The parents are creating an entitled little greedy monster.  

I specifically taught my children not to go begging for gifts from anyone...except Santa Then they had to use their best writing skills to send a letter and manners at the mall. The grandparents would ask what the kids needed for christmas or birthdays and I would give suggestions. If my kids had ever pulled a stunt like that they would have literally gotten a lump of coal. 

 I think we all wanted to do what would make DH happy, and in doing so we discovered that we compromise our own happiness because it is a thankless job in many regards. After hearing only DH being thanked  and praised for all that “he did, “ I just decided to remove myself from that equation and see if the same things still happened. Of course we all know that they didn’t t. DH even signed a birthday card to his grandson with the wrong name for the grandson! After he sent the card, DH actually asked me what his grandson’s name was! I made sure the next time we both saw SS he was made aware that his own father didn’t even know his grandson’s name. Talk about a sour grapes look from both SS & DH. No amount of money could buy that.