Did you share custody with you ex? If so, the situation is a little different and much easier in that scenario. |
| You are so close to having them out of the house most of the time in college. I'd have your BF step back until they graduate. +1 to spending time together when the kids are in school or doing date night. My teens barely want to hang out with me. You can spend time with him on dates/on weekends, etc. Once they are adults, I think it is fine to do what you want. |
But they’re not polite, that’s the point of this post. |
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Make sure he is not actually a creeper.
We have a family friend who got a new boyfriend, and then the girls started acting weird in middle school, and mom blamed her girls for being perverts! As in a 12-year-old, out of the blue, became a sex predator! |
| Are your boyfriend’s kids out of the house or do they still live with him, at least part time? If they live with him, how often are you at his house when they’re there, doing household chores? How’s your relationship with them? |
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You really can’t understand that two teens would not enjoy you and your boyfriend playing house? He’s not just in your space, he’s in their space multiple times per week.
I get that it’s hard not having your house to yourself due to no shared custody (widowed here, but same constraints). Why don’t you go to his house one night a week so the girls can have some space to themselves, go out one night a week, and, as a PP suggested, use some PTO for daytime lunches/dates? It’s not fair to your kids to be integrating boyfriend into your family to this extent. |
| 2.5 years isn't really that long. Teen girls don't want some strange man invading their privacy like that. It's weird at that age. Respect their wishes. |
I did, but have a lot of single Mom friends including ones with full custody and we all had the same policies. Truly, it's not justification for involving your kids in your love life. |
| Kids are the priority. End of story. Anyone saying otherwise is an a$$. |
+1000. OP the fact that you even have to ask us what’s going on with your own 14 and 16 YO girls is horrifying. They have parents who can’t keep a marriage together, a father who has dropped out of their lives and a mother who, after only 9 months of dating, is immaturely acting like she’s met Prince Charming and expects them to be excited about your sex life. You need some serious therapy OP before you and your x cause lasting damage to them. |
| This could be our resident poster with kids who used to post some 3 years ago about how everyone was against her boyfriend, even her sister, and how he was the best thing for her as her husband left her..... and we all told her to slow down and she did not. Troll! |
Idk about you but personally, I wouldn't impose a man on my teen daughters whose family was torn couple of years ago. I would wait to have a serious relationship until they are gone to college. Your mileage may vary. |
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That's wayyy to short a time of dating to force your kids to hang out with him three nights a week. Girls that age just don't feel comfortable with an unrelated man in the house, and you're making them have to be on company behavior and company attire. If he's showing up unpredictably, that means they're always a little on edge because they don't know when they'll have to be in Future Stepdaughter mode.
They know this is not just some platonic friend who stopped by. They know all too well that you'll be trying to make him be their stepfather and then they'll have to be dealing with him all the time and get way less time 1:1 with you. And they'll have stepsiblings and either have to move in with the stepfamily or let the stepfamily move in with them. That he'll start making changes and laying down rules and their lives will change in ways they don't like. Your daughters are not stupid. They see where this goes. You have to account for the possibility that they just don't like him. I'm an adult and I don't like my mom's partner. It's not because of the divorce or any issues. I just think he's an annoying loser and a mooch. That's okay. Not everyone likes everyone's boyfriend! Do you like all your friends' partners? I doubt it. |
Bizarre to me how so many people on DCUM say if you’re not engaged to someone after a year, move on, but here we have someone who’s been dating 9 months, and somehow in this situation that’s a paltry amount of time. |
| If you read up case studies, not many women see character issues or behavioral flaws in their new BFs or husbands until its too late. |