|
Sometimes teens are brats. Adults like your DH and his wife should find a way to work through being hurt. Your teen is probably feeling replaced as dady's baby girl. And pissed about not knowing.
Normal. Your ex DH is reaping the consequences of his choice not to share this with his DD during lockdown. That's his prerogative. But now he has to deal with the fall out. Soon your DD will be out of the house, off to college, visitation will be rare, and she can mature and figure out how to handle her relationship with dad, his wife, and the baby. I might remind my daughter that it's not the baby's fault her parents made the decision she did, and that one doesn't get a sister (half or otherwise) every day, and maybe she should forgive them. Otherwise I would stay out of it. Support your DD, remind her to be kind and diplomatic, and otherwise take a back seat while she and her dad navigate this. |
+1 |
But DD is mad that dad hasn't insisted. He could insist. He also could have flown out to visit during the pandemic. If OP is the one blocking the relationship (from the bolded in the embedded quote it's not clear if DD also flies to the west coast to visit, or if visits only take place when dad flies east), then DD will realize that in time and OP will get her due. |
| I feel bad for her. Basically she's now seen both her mother and her father get new partners, start new families, and push her aside. She probably feels like a has been who isn't central to either family unit. She'll probably get over it, sure, but it's hard to blame her for feeling that way. |
OP here I didn't wabt her to fly there till she was 14. So he used to fly. But how is that a problem. I didn't want them alone together so visitation was at my house till she was 12 and they could do day trips. How is that wrong? |
He's her DAD. Why didn't you want them alone together??? She's going to hate you when she's an adult and realizes that you stole her relationship with her father from her. Is she alone with your DH ever? My goodness. |
| Yep, the new info that OP dropped changes things. She is obstructing DD’s relationship with her dad, but dad still should have told her long before the new baby arrived. So should the evil stepmothers on here who are threatened by their DH’s ex-wives and the children from those marriages. Those stepmoms are short-sighted and equally guilty of depriving their own kids of relationships with stepsibs that could be healthy and beneficial, while at the same time working to ruin the dad’s relationship with his (other) bio kids. I agree with PP that these dads are lousy for bowing to this pressure from the new wife. |
It is wrong to separate a child from their parent. Full stop. You alienated her from her dad and now you are complaining that she is alienated from her dad? Please, have her go to a therapist so that she can work through all the things her parents have done to damage her relationship with them. She needs is ASAP. |
| OP is a bit clueless |
Seriously? This particular situation aside, if I call my kid, they better answer or have a good reason why. I'm not one to make a lot of calls to someone who prefers to be texted, including my kids, so if I'm calling it's because I want to speak with you for some reason. And you damn sure better not ignore my calls for months, at least, not if you want to have privileges. |
What a charmer you are. I'm sure your stepdaughters don't give two shits about you, either. |
NP, but I think a therapist is a good idea. I'd guess that there are a lot of things going on, and having a safe place to talk through all her feelings is probably healthy. OP can't really be a neutral arbiter. The dad and stepmom made a huge mistake not mentioning the pregnancy, and having to deal with a new half-sibling is a big deal anyway. |
| Everyone in this story is trashy and shouldn’t even be allowed to reproduce. |
| For all the people dragging OP's daughter about "being mean to the baby", you do all realize that the baby is 2 months old and doesn't know its armpit from its a**hole, right? Plus, OP and daughter live thousands of miles away? So she can't "be mean" to the baby, since she is not physically there, plus a baby that young isn't aware of her half-sister's existence. So calm down about the "baby cruelty" that is going on by daughter "ignoring" her half-sibling. Christ almighty, some of you are knee-jerk reactive if people don't fawn all over a baby. |
At the same time. Life goes on. She gets to learn that divorce is not the end of the world and people can be happy again |