Stock photo.Photo:Getty
Getty
A Redditor is questioning his responsibilities as a stepdad after his wife volunteered him for a parenting task without asking.
OP noted that he has been with his wife Jane for five years, who is mom to daughter Emily, 9, from a past relationship. Emily stays with OP and his wife Monday through Thursday and then goes to her father’s house Friday through Sunday.
He also said that from the beginning, “Jane told me Emily doesn’t need a second father figure as she had her dad to fill that role.” Understanding that he would only be a “trusted authority figure” for Emily, OP respected his wife’s boundaries.
However, things got confusing when Emily’s dad got married, bringing two new stepkids into the mix that Emily did not get along with. Because of the turbulent situation, Emily’s dad asked if they could change her schedule so she didn’t overlap with the new kids.
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Stock photo.Getty
While OP said he had no opposition to Emily staying with them on different days, the issue was that Jane had “agreed to it without consulting me.” His wife was completing a certification course for the next 12 months, with classes on Saturday from 9-5 p.m., conflicting with Emily’s time at the house and requiring someone else to watch her daughter.
Commenters on the post shared their support for OP, with one Redditor writing, “I was ready to read this and read you for filth, but this is truly an AH move from your wife. I think it’s totally fair that she asks you to help out, but agreeing to it without talking to you, and assuming you’d consistently do this is wild! Why did she agree and then work to loop you in after?!”
“Dad and stepmom also need to step it up and work on the relationship between the new stepsiblings and get that under control because there are going to be times they are all together in the same house, that’s just life.”
OP later posted again to express his gratitude for the support from his fellow Redditors. “Emily deserves to feel cared for and not like a hot potato who no one wants,” he wrote. “I spoke to my brother and his wife and they have offered to let Emily stay at their home on Saturday morning with their other children so that we can golf.”
While his wife agreed to this solution, OP also told her that their arrangement wasn’t working anymore. “If she expects me to have parental responsibilities towards Emily, then she needs to treat me like another parent of her daughter,” he wrote.
source: people.com
