u/HeatDisastrous4368

Specifically with the Director of DAI…what is the work environment like? Telework?

Thank you.

I have 3 step sons all under the age of 10. They get sick a lot but a normal amount for kids 🤷‍♀️ We share half the week with HCBM too so they jump around a lot with houses, sports, school, etc..

But everytime they get sick, I swear she has a meltdown. She panics and tries to find the source of their sickness (usually she’ll blame my kids but not the 20 other kids they are with daily from school).

Just an example of how crazy she can get: My stepson was peeing the bed at 4/5 and she wanted to get his bloodwork done and said he has an underlying illness or something. My husband told her it’s normal especially for boys to pee the bed here and there at this age. She still took him to get his bloodwork done and the Dr told her she needs to stop taking the kids in so much for nothing.

Now I get anxious when my husband mentions them being sick to her because she is such an a hole about it.. mind you she has sent them over sick so many times but it doesn’t bother me. They’ve gotten my kids sick, but it’s not on purpose, it’s just apart of having a family!

I was sick a couple of weeks ago and I thought it was just food poisoning because it was just me and everyone else was fine. My step son got it later with her on her day and she sent a message to my husband at 1am saying “I wish SHE would have let me know people in your house were sick.” So I sent a message stating that I really thought it was food poisoning otherwise my husband would’ve said something. She ignored it and didn’t respond.

Now my stepson woke up saying his head hurts and he feels dizzy. Instead of focusing on him, I’m stressed over her reaction since they go to her later today. 🤦‍♀️

Does anyone else have to deal with this?

Hi everyone. I’m feeling a little desperate here.

Some back story: My husband and I met 6 years ago. His oldest son is 10 and he has twin boys that are 8. I have a daughter who is 7 and we have a son together who is 4.

Yes, we are a big blended family. For the most part, everything is good. Everyone gets along and everyone feels comfortable (from what I can tell.)

My step kids know they can rely on me and I help take care of them as if they were my own. When I say that, I don’t mean it in a way that I’m their mom or trying to replace their mom, but I just want them to know/feel that they aren’t treated differently than my kids.

I don’t overstep and I don’t ever discipline them the way I would my own kids. I will raise my voice when needed, but it’s not yelling by any means. My husband usually takes care of the discipline except when he is at work. I’ll usually shoot him a text and let him know what happened but when he comes home, I think we all forget about it.

So, we all just went out to eat with our friends. All of the kids acted out so bad. My stepson grabbed my son’s arm and slammed his head into the chair. My daughter was not listening to me at all. My oldest stepson wouldn’t stop interrupting us and my other step son one was laughing when my son got hurt.
It was just all around so embarrassing.

I am not sure what to do at this point. I feel like we have no control. We have taken away tablets for almost a month now. 3 are enrolled in sports to help keep them busy. My oldest step son’s phone was taken away about two months ago because he’s failing in school and he still won’t improve his grades. As far as chores, I usually end up doing most of the house work. I am thinking of adding chores to their daily routine but I don’t think that will fix their behavior. I also feel hopeless with my step kids because I can’t do anything and they don’t listen to their dad. My husband will raise his voice and he doesn’t allow bad behavior to go unnoticed, but they don’t take him seriously. My husband believes that they listen to their mom because she hits them and yells. I just don’t believe in hitting.

I’m just desperate and want to figure out we can turn this around and have well mannered kids. Please, any advice is appreciated. Please no judgement. We are trying our best 😭