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qwerty97

Stepmother is Disrespectful

qwerty97
11 years ago

My stepmother is constantly finding ways to put me down ,as well as my brothers. She screams and curses at us all the time, and she tells me that I "don't contribute to the household at all". I'm 15 years old, and I put any extra time I have after school, my internship, and homework, toward chores. I weed, I sweep, I help with cooking, I clean. I certainly don't do everything, and I don't pay for my room, but I do what I can. And before my father gained full custody of my brothers and I, we were at outr mother's almost full time. I dearly love her, but she rarely worked and had a drinking problem. Her only income was child support. At her house, I was doing everything. Every single day, I cooked the meals. I kept the house in order. I checked my brothers' homework. I got them up for school. So it is incredibly insulting to be told that I do not contribute. She also has little regard for my time. She assignes tasks for me to complete immediately right as I am leaving for work. When I try to explain that I can't be late, she just cusses me out, and I end up being late just to do whatever she needs me to do. And yesterday, when I asked if she wanted help with Thanksgiving dinner (I felt bad, as she had not made me do anything), she replied, "no, not from you," in a nasty tone. Later, when she told my brothers and I to wash and dry the dishes, she shoved her finger in my face and told me, "you dry. I don't trust you to wash the dishes." I apologized, and then she told me, "you can go to your room if you're going to have an attitude." I'm not sure what I did there. Perhaps it was the tone I had used when I apologized; I tried very hard not to sound defiant, and I'm not sure I succeeded. Or maybe it was the insulted expression my brother told me was on my face when I apologized. Either way, I think that far worse a response may have been justified, given the level of insult and the fact that she did it in front of my brothers AND my father. She also criticizes my mother frequently ("your mother is a b----"), and she usually does it in front of me and both of my siblings (ages 13 and 9). And worst of all, she continues to allege that I have an eating disorder, and that I am lying when I say the doctor told me I was 10 pounds underweight. Not being an M.D., I don't know whether being 92 pounds constitutes an eating disorder, but she's not an M.D. either. She uses this alleged eating disorder as a threat, to get me to do things ("if you don't do this, I'll tell the doctor you have an eating disorder"). She also continues to cite the fact that I don't eat all of the snacks I'm allowed to in a week as further evidence of my "eating disorder". I'm really not sure how to please her. I know that I can't keep living with her constantly on my back, insulting my intelligence ("you have the smarts of a 6th grader"), etc. Since I moved in permanently, my grades have dropped by about a letter. I already know what happens if they drop too far: my 13- year-old brother was constantly screamed at and belittled by my stepmother, in addition to being grounded, when his grades fell because he didn't have enought time every day to finish his homework (his bedtime is 7:30, and even though he gets home at 3:30, she has him do chores for 2-3 hours first, plus dinner). I have the option to move in with my grandparents in December. Should I do this? Or is there some way to make my stepmother happy? Please advise.

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