BM doesn't want me there (despite the fact that I'm raising the kids 70% of the time). Jealous, petty whatever you want to call it - she's just plain hostile. I don't want to be buddy-buddy with her (not at ALL) but a little effort to make eye contact when I say hi and ask how she is would be nice (even though I couldn't care less). I'm the person raising your children for f@#*s sake.
So since she failed to plan for child care (Thursday is her day), she suggested to the husband that *I* watch the kid during the conference. The husband informed her that I would be attending, since I am involved. Her answer is to LEAVE THEM ON THE PLAYGROUND BY THEMSELVES FOR 90 MINUTES!!! Quality. Can someone out there please arrange to call child welfare services during that time to report her?
Ugg. I feel like puking and the conferences are still 22 hours away. I hate her I hate her I hate her.
I know what you're going through. I don't have my stepchild as often as you have yours, but the first time I dropped her off at school, her teacher latched onto me just because I expressed genuine interest in how she was doing (and also to introduce myself). The mother has been uninvolved, but when there's a problem at school, she blames dad and me. Our marriage, our new house, the step-siblings. It's pathetic.
ReplyDeleteLong story short: we went to the conference and and did a separate one from the mother. My husband can't stand to be in the same room with her, so it was probably the best thing. Even though he is civil, he just can't stand dealing with her. She had never provided any of my husband's contact information to the school, and when I emailed the teacher to give it to her, it ended up tagged as spam, and she had to delete it due to virus problems the school has had recently.
She emailed both dad and mom about this and told them she needed both of them to give permission to email me. My husband said OK, but the mother said no. Even though the teacher and the counselors were pushing for my involvement because no one had really been involved until I started asking questions and dad and I always made sure she had her homework and other assignments when she'd been with him. The mother never did. The child's performance was showing signs of parental neglect.
She's only with us one night during the week (and weekends) so her mother ignoring her needs had taken some toll. After the teacher started asking the mother questions directly, she started participating. But now she thinks that I'm too involved and emailed my husband telling me to basically back off.
It's just nothing but stress, and I worry that my SD and my own children will notice and start to suffer. Why can't we all just get along?