(IntegrityTimes.com) – Being a stepparent has always had its own unique set of challenges. However, today 16% of children in the U.S. are being raised in what are called blended families so these issues are of interest to more and more people all the time. Not everyone is suited to it, and it can go awry, but for those who are dedicated or just lucky relationships as loving and close as any others can be possible. It can take work, communication and cooperation though.
Recently on the social media site Reddit, a frustrated stepmother took to the popular forum AITA, where people ask the users of Reddit if they are the bad guy in a given situation, to complain about her recent disagreement with her husband over her stepdaughter. Her 17-year-old stepdaughter wants a new iPhone 15, which retails around $800 to $900 depending on where you buy it and whether it’s the base model or a iPhone 15 Plus. The woman claims both she and the father agreed to buy the phone only if she received two A+ on her next report card.
The stepdaughter did not receive the A+s but instead ended up failing a class. Rallying in the face of the setback, the stepmother and father told the girl that they would buy it for her at a later date if she made up the failed class and did well on her finals. This was not acceptable to the angry teen, and relations between her and her stepmother became tense. She called her natal mother who agreed to buy her the new phone. The teen’s father told the stepmother he had talked it over with the mother and they had agreed, going back on his original arrangement with the stepmother.
When the father told the stepmother that she would never be the girl’s mother and should stop interfering, she became very frustrated and declared she was done parenting the girl. She wondered why she was cooking for her, washing her clothes, attending her important events and driving her to practice. Psychoanalyst and author Erica Komisar says the issue looks more like a marital issue than a parenting issue. The father undermined the stepmother, jeopardizing his daughter’s relationship with her stepmother. Many experts say that agreeing on parenting issues is the most important thing a blended family can do. Reddit, in its own unique way, agrees, as they have overwhelmingly decided the stepmother is not the —hole.
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