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| Hello to all- I've been lurking for a while, reading and absorbing- This is my first post here so a brief background:
My DH & I have been married for 6 years. He was married to his Ex for 20+ years, they have a daughter- now aged 19 3/4 yrs. I have 2 sons (9 & 11) from a prior marriage- their BD passed away when my oldest was 3yrs old. My SD lived with her BM after divorce, moved in with us when she was 15 yrs old- BM had zero contact with her for nearly a year (lived a whopping 35 minutes away)- Things were fine as wine until... (you're already guessing, right?) BM came back into SD's life, DH & I encouraged her to have regular contact w/ her mom, etc. Until at age 17 she ran away from home- She went to BM's for a regular weekend visit and called to say she wasn't coming hom- no further explanation. Keep in mind that, upon divorce, visitation/custody was "frequent & liberal" which means nothing. After DH & I started our relationship and BM jerked DH around on "his" weekends, we hired an atty., went to court and had an actual custody agreement. When SD wanted to move in with us, we went back to court, changed custody, etc. Well, fast forward 2+ years and SD again begins to contact her Dad- He had made regular attemtps during those 2+ years, calling, sending cards, etc. Never received any replies. Last Year, I talked to DH about SD moving in with us as she had hinted around. Upon her graduation from HighSchool she did not continue onto college, just worked PT at a grocery store. Fast forward again--- she moved in with us, we got her enrolled in college, she wound up losing her job, we told her she didn't need to pay anything, just concentrate on her school.
So --- here's what I've don: Told DH that: I'm done working on helping, guiding, "fixing" her- my focus will now shift to the family as a whole.
I was very clear with him and told him I need peace for myself and the boys. I'm not trying to punish him but I'm done with the conflict in my life. I'd ultimately like my SD to leave our house. She's only bringing conflict in and everything we've tried to do to help her has been for nothing. - she's talked about joining the military and I honestly think that would be the best thing for her- she's completely unmotivated- with zero ambition and a serious case of "the grass is greener" syndrome! I'm 100% prepared to follow through and anticipate having to leave my home with the boys a few times a week when they're having a disagreement with each other. I'm also prepared to put up with this for about another 5 or 6 weeks. If he hasn't had her leave at that point I'll have to make my next move which would consist of another conversation with DH telling him that, since the situation hasn't improved I feel like it's best for me and the boys to leave for a week or two so he and SD can really work on their problems. I feel like this is the only thing that will make my DH realize just how much I've been doing on a daily basis for SD and it will bring a harsh light on how much chaos she's causing. Can anyone give me feedback if you've taken similar steps?- If so how long did the situation continue before a meaningful change occured? |
Follow-Up Postings:
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- Posted by stargazzer (My Page) on Tue, Apr 7, 09 at 14:54
| Sounds to me like you have a handle on the situation as it is now. I personally would never have tried to discipline my steps, not my job. |
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