Quote From: raineday1I need an opinion. I have been with my boyfriend for 2.5 years. We have been living together a little over a year of that. I have had immense trouble from his x-wife and also the relationship with his 10 year old daughter. It’s been a very emotional relationship as far as being accepted into his side of the family. His x-wife didn’t want the divorce and for years they had a traumatic marriage. He ran around, cheated and for the life of me I don’t know why she stayed with him. I knew him before his divorce, he would always tell me he was getting divorced trying to get me to go out with him and I would respond, you get a divorce and maybe we’ll go out. He eventually moved out and got the divorce and we started dating. I told him from the onset that I would never tolerate his treatment towards me as his relationship was with her. In the beginning we did everything we could not to be around anywhere that she would be and considerate of her feelings. Once we moved in together and she had actually dated others, we were invited to a party at his parent’s friend’s house whom she is friends with their daughter. She was therefore, invited too. It was his weekend to have their daughter and we had her with us at the party and had decided we would just stay a little while because of the situation and then leave. His x-wife was drinking and glaring at me the whole time. I walked into the house to use the restroom and as I opened the door to come out she was there before I even got the door open on top of me hitting me in the head and ribs with her fists until finally someone pulled her off of me. I was lodged between the toilet and bathtub from the fall and all I could do was put my arms over my face to protect myself. She done this with her daughter there, I was shocked. Because of the circumstance being at his parent’s friend’s house and due to the fact that she’s friend with their daughter nobody would call the police. Therefore, we immediately left and went to the local Sheriff’s department and I pressed assult charges and then went to the hospital where I had golf ball sized lumps on my head and cracked ribs. We ended up going to court and my boyfriend’s sister-in-law appeared that day as well along with his x-wife to support her which caused more hard feelings of course. Once this happened everything, including my relationship with my boyfriend’s daughter became very complicated and has been very painful in many ways over the last year.
When I first met his daughter she was accepting of me and liked me. I got along fine with her and it seemed to be pretty easy going after all the worry about it. Once this all took place, his daughter was caught up in the middle and basically her mother turned her against me. She knows full well that we do not like each other and because of that evening we can’t be in the same place. The x-wife is still on probation and has a restraining order on her to protect me. She has pushed it several times appearing where we are and calling our house hanging up, it’s been endless.
The problem now is I cannot deal with anything that involves the x-wife or the child. It has made our relationship so difficult that I am afraid in the end it’s going to destroy us. I don’t’ know how we have made it together enduring everything but somehow we have. One day, my boyfriend had to work on Saturday so he tells her she can stay with me until he’s home and she gets hysterical and says that if she does, her Mom will ground her and she will be in trouble. We tried to explain that it wouldn’t be her that got into trouble, if her Mom was going to be mad at anyone it would be us. Also, we tried to explain that when she is at our house, for his weekend visitations, it’s his decision to make. This is where the trouble really began. The problem is anytime he has to work on the weekend, he has to call her Mother and take her home early in the morning or the evening before, or he’ll call all around looking for a sitter. Because her Mother says she can’t be with me or go anywhere with me, he goes along with this not to complicate things but the only thing it’s doing is hurting me more and more and making me feel despise towards this child because it’s causing us so much trouble. I rarely talk to her unless I have to, and I keep my distance because frankly I have been hurt more times than I can possibly mention on here over this whole situation. Last weekend, he had to work and we had her and so he called his sister to come and get her at 10 on Friday night and then picked up back up on Saturday rather than her just stay at the house. If I were a bad person, if it was not a good environment then I would understand. I have raised two wonderful children whom are 19 and 21. My daughter just finished her freshman year in college. I would never have lost my control so bad with my kids around to assult someone. She has done so much damage to this child mentally that I fear it will scar her for the rest of her life and to be honest the child is getting to be just like her Mother. She even called our house one time and insisted to her father that he break up with me because she didn’t like me and that her Mother broke up with her boyfriend because she didn’t like him. Her mother told a huge lie to her, it was the man that broke it off with her because he didn’t feel she was someone he would like to take home and meet his kids. The child will do anything that she knows will cause conflict between her father and I. He is blinded by this whole ordeal and thinks I need to just get over it and that I shouldn’t let any of this bother me. His justification for not putting his foot down while she’s at our house and just saying look you’ll stay here until I get home is that I wouldn’t have allowed my x-husbands girlfriend to watch my kids while they were little. I said if they were living together in a serious relationship I would have no choice. It’s a lost cause and I do try to just harden myself to it and it’s why I have to block the child out as well because I am tired of being made to feel that I am not worthy enough for this child to stay with me. Although, I am good enough to go shopping for her, cook her dinner, buy her Christmas, birthday gifts, my paycheck goes into this too as well as what he pays in child support. He does not correct this child, anything she wants, he agrees even if he knows that I don’t agree with it. I do not try to be her parent, or I do not set her rules as well as I don’t say anything about discipline I don’t feel it’s my place. I let him do that or not do that it’s not my concern. He pushes her on me, trying to force me to have a relationship with her, saying you don’t love my daughter when we get into fights over it and he doesn’t even try to understand my feelings. I see her as her Mother and frankly just a downright spoiled brat. I know some of this isn’t her fault and I know she’s suffered too, but I just cannot set myself up for anymore hurt by any of them. I have a huge wall built up. My problem is, I don’t know how to keep it from affecting our relationship. I can’t even talk to him about his kid, he’s so blinded and it’s quite sickening the way he goes on about her that I don’t’ want to hear anything about her. He even has said well your daughter can babysit her and that’s another problem he’ll throw up to me that I think my daughter is perfect and I say I know she isn’t perfect, but she’s mine and I love her and she’s a pretty good kid. I know she has faults just like they all do.
I’m sure someone else has had this type of circumstance with their boyfriend’s kid(s) or stepchildren and how do you handle the x-wife and him going along with her rules because he can’t stand up to her and the bad feelings towards the kid(s). I feel so immature over it and I keep thinking is it me, my fault why can’t I get over it but I just can’t. I’m actually going to be going to counseling at the end of the month to get a professional opinion. I feel very vindictive and angry with the whole situation and it is hurting our relationship. I’ve seriously considered leaving him to get away from it all. I’d love to hear from anyone that may have some advice. Good or bad thank you.
Sweetie,
Run far, run fast in the opposite direction from this man and his family. Why? Multiple reasons, but in a nutshell:
1) As Dr. Phil says, he will always be the parent of this little girl, along with his x-wife. Therefore, you will *never* be free of the head games and the frustrations for as long as you are with this man.
2) Also as Dr. Phil says: "He did it WITH you, he'll do it TO you." You may not have slept with him before his divorce, but face the facts: you were on his mind for a long time while he was still married. Did he *earn* his way out of that marriage? He'll do it to you too. If you stay with him, and maybe even get married to him, how long do you think it might be before he sets his eye on someone else and divorces you to be with #3?
3) You wrote: "He ran around, cheated and for the life of me I don’t know why she stayed with him." Enough said about that. See point 2) above.
4) He's not in your camp. You said: "He is blinded by this whole ordeal and thinks I need to just get over it and that I shouldn’t let any of this bother me." This doesn't sound like very supportive behaviour to me. You two are not on the same page.
5) He's placing part of the blame on you. You said: "His justification for not putting his foot down while she’s at our house and just saying look you’ll stay here until I get home is that *I* wouldn’t have allowed ....." (emphasis is mine) He's using your principles against you. This doesn't sound like very supportive behaviour to me, either.
6) You wrote: "He pushes her on me, trying to force me to have a relationship with her, saying you don’t love my daughter when we get into fights over it..." Trying to *force* you??? Sounds like more blaming behaviour and rather like bullying behaviour to me. "...and he doesn’t even try to understand my feelings." You two are *really* not on the same page.
7) You have been with him for 2.5 years. If his daughter is 10, then he has *at least* 11 years of history with his ex-wife. You're the new kid on the block, and you're up against the ex, the daughter, the sister-in-law, and who knows how many other relatives of the ex-wife, and this is with little support from the boyfriend (see points 4, 5 and 6 above.)
8) You said: "I feel so immature over it and I keep thinking is it me, my fault why can’t I get over it but I just can’t." Nor should you have to IMHO. You have happened into a situation that has been boiling over for more than 10 years. It is not your fault. Read that again: IT IS NOT YOUR FAULT. Repeat with me: "It is not my fault." Again: "It is not my fault." Once more: "It is not my fault." You are not being immature. You want a man who will place you #1 in his life, and that is not immature.
9) You've been assaulted. To me that is an absolute "drop-dead deal-breaker". (I learned that expression from Dr. Phil, of course, and I love it!)The rest of the family and guests were bystanders, who apparently did nothing to prevent her from following you into the house or to stop her. Maybe they weren't aware of what she is capable of, but I doubt that this is the first time she has resorted to fists. It sounds like this happened a year ago. If it were me, I would have been gone immediately. I would never stick around to allow something like this to happen a second time. Sounds like your boyfriend did the right thing at the time, and maybe at core he's OK, maybe he's just overwhelmed by it all but stands up for you only in the most urgent and dire of circumstances.
10) You have no guarantee that you will not be physically harmed in future. Restrainig orders are often not worth the paper they're printed on. Anybody out of control enough to beat someone up is possibly out of control enough to violate a restraining order. Ask the thousands of women in shelters.
11) It sounds like you are reluctant to leave, I think partly because you don't want to be manipulated into anything by the ex-wife and the daughter. Perhaps you are thinking that they will brag that they made you leave. Well, so what if they do brag? Let them!! Think about what that bragging says about *them*. You don't need to be concerned about what they say. You are better than that. You deserve better than that. You don't need to defend yourself to them or to your boyfriend. I think it was Oscar Wilde who said: "Living well is the best revenge." Take a lesson from that and you won't have a need to say a word to anybody about these goings on. You need to take care of yourself. And in case that sounds like a selfish approach, read on to point 12:
12) In your entire message, I didn't see any place where you said that you love him. Think long and hard about that.
13) There are plenty of fish in the sea. Move on. Cast your net wider. Life is 'way too short to spend it putting up with this kind of behaviour. Good luck!