Today
I stumbled upon this article - 10 Brutal Truths About Being A Stepmom - and, being a stepmom myself, I will admit it
is a pretty darn good list of the realities that go along with keeping the
peace (and your sanity!) when you are struggling through the in’s and out’s of
step-mommyhood. However, I was also a bit perturbed with the fact that we,
as stepmoms, are always the ones that are presented with this demanding list of “hoops” that we should
be jumping through to “calm the waters” in this tricky bio/step relationship - as if it's because we are suppose to try to stay out of the way and watch our every move.
There definitely needs to be a "playbook" for certain blended family situations, as the women on both sides of the step/bio relationship could use a little bit of coaching to tackle the giant amount of adversity that surrounds this kind of tricky relationship.
So I wrote my own “survival guide”, if you will, for the biomom (or “baby
mama”, as we say in our home, if you believe, like I do, that our biomom is no
more a mother than the next homeless man walking down the street). But even if
you are a great biomom and get along great with your ex’s wife, it can’t hurt
to have a fresh new perspective, right? I truly believe that the bio/step
relationship can be a great one, but I do not think that the work needs to all
be one-sided.
Ok, so let me jump back a few decades:
In high school I was the self-appointed “drive-thru queen” at a popular fast
food restaurant in the tiny little redneck town where I grew up. On a daily
basis, I shoved about a thousand orders through those automatic drive-thru
windows, into the hands of the most varied categories of people that you could
possibly see using such a tiny vantage point. Some were super pleasant. Some
were super... uh... not. I was constantly dumbfounded by the lack of decency
exhibited towards us by these hungry, hurried strangers. It was always
intriguing to me how disrespectfully they would treat us as they zoomed through
to pick up their baggies full of greasy carbs and gallon jugs of fatty
milkshakes… I mean - we are handling your FOOD, people!... are you seriously too
ignorant to make a connection there? Are you really about to consume something
made by someone you just cussed out? I worked at a few different types of
restaurants and have yet to experience one where I have not witnessed a scorned
fry cook or a freshly-harassed waiter put something extremely disgusting -
bugs, bodily fluids, dirty mop water, etc (and worse!) - into a rude customer’s
food… Don’t be an idiot! You have no control on how your food is handled behind
the kitchen doors. The last thing you want to do is piss off an underpaid,
overworked, and most likely hungover member of the team that is preparing it,
trust me!!
So - What could this possibly have to do with mothering? I'll tell ya--
Over my past four years as a stepmom, I have often connected my earlier food
hustling experiences to my newly found life-struggles of dealing with our
family's constant baby mama drama. Too often the baby mama will let her mental
disorder get the best of her and intentionally cause a huge conflict with our
household out of spite, or a desperate move for attention, or just plain
ignorance. She disrespects me on audible phone conversations that are suppose
to be between my husband and his child. She removes me on important emails that
my husband sends to her with me copied. It’s as if she thinks that she can get
rid of me with a simple click of a mouse. (Insert evil “Bwa ha ha!” laugh
here.) It’s immature and amusing to me - and I will totally admit that the
teenage girl in me gets a great deal of pleasure out of knowing that I get to
her, no doubt. But the thing that I can’t wrap my mind around is how completely
disconnected you would have to be to treat someone who cares for your CHILD
with all of this calculated bitterness. Wake up girl!! The tiny human that you
love most in this world is in my (oftentimes exclusive) care on a regular
basis. You have zero influence over what happens to your child when he is
with me. So why would you be so insulting and dismissive to someone who is in
control of something that is so precious to you??
Now granted - I know what I am implying and I would never do harm or ill-will
towards my step-child, but there are plenty of cases in this pitiful world
where this is exactly the situation. Too often the step-child becomes the
victim of their step-parent's frustrations and end up battered or worse. It's
sickening but it IS reality. This is far from the case in our situation,
obviously, but - has my irritation towards the baby mama caused me to exhibit
unwarranted frustrations toward my step-child in the past? Definitely. Have I
gotten irritated and raised my voice a little louder than I should have just
because I see some of her horrible parenting displayed in his behavior? Yes,
all of the time! There are many nights when I have laid down so ashamed of my
misdirected frustrations towards him and asked God to help me control my anger
by helping me to see that lots of his issues are not his fault. Some days
before we pick him up to bring him to our house for a week, I will get so
depressed and wonder how I am going to cope with this role for another week, -
much less, the rest of my married life! It's not easy, this step-parenting
stuff. 70% of the marriages of couples with blended families end in divorce.
Proof that it can get extremely challenging. Step-mom's are humans too that
usually had absolutely no clue what they were getting themselves into when they
married into a family. They can read all of the "how to
stepmom" books they can find but if the biomom is impossible to reason
with, the whole situation can make a stepmom feel really disheartened. And I
would think that the last thing a biomom might want in most situations is to
have to have another woman introduced into her child's life.
So here are a few pointers I put together - a BioMom Guidebook, if you will -
that I would LOVE for our baby mama to realize for the betterment of everyone
involved in our situation- especially her and her child. Yes, these experiences
are mostly centered around my own personal ultra-crazy baby mama drama and the
unique relationship I have with my husband and my step-son, but I think all
mothers in the bio/step relationship will be able to identify with a few of
these situations. It is my sincere hope that most bio mothers are not as
close-minded as the one I deal with and they will agree that it couldn’t hurt
to consider the impact of following a few friendly guidelines from the
stepmom's side of things for a change - even if you have to bite your lip while
you read and consider them!
Step-Mom to Bio-Mom: A Guide
1. Include the Step-Mother (for your own benefit).
Realize
that the step-mother is in control of the situations in your ex’s house and
thus, all of the things that you are trying to compromise on with your ex that
relate to your child. So when you ask a favor of your ex, you are asking for her
help as well. My husband and I have a great system when it comes to the
requests of his baby mama:
-She asks him to do something.
-He texts/calls/emails me with
the request.
-I easily persuade my husband
to agree with my point of view. (wink, wink - “happy wife, happy life” ring a
bell?)
-She gets whatever answer that
I decided upon.
......Well, actually..... if I'm being completely truthful, there are usually
discussions and sometimes heated arguments but the answer is 9 out of 10 times my
decision. 10 out of 10 times it is a compromise between the two of us.
No matter what, it will NEVER be a decision he would make on his own and here’s
why - in most circumstances, whatever decision he makes affects me directly.
She thinks he owes something on a bill for the child? - it’s OUR money he would
use to pay her and I get consulted. She wants a few extra hours with the child
on a certain weekend? - it is OUR family time that would have to be re-arranged
so I get consulted. She needs help picking him up from school on a certain day
of the week so she can attend night classes? - it will pull my husband from
time spent with OUR family so I get consulted. What I don’t think my personal
(endearing and oh-so adorable) baby mama realizes (or wants to admit) is that
my husband and I have what she hasn't been able to achieve - a healthy striving
relationship together. And with that comes mutual decision making, mutual agreements,
mutual disagreements. We will always MUTUALLY agree on our family's
contribution to whatever she might need.
Together.
As a team.
Unified in our decision.
(Get the point?)
When I am constantly disrespected and dismissed, it really hurts her chances of
our "married team" deciding in her favor and she just makes it harder
on herself. Her easiest MO would be to just go ahead and accept that I am part
of her child's family and treat me with that amount of respect. Hell, she could
even just cut to the chase and send the request directly to me! That would be
the most efficient way. Do you know what would happen if my husband's ex would
send just one text asking me for a favor? She'd get it.
Or she can continue to be stubborn - I just love getting to be karma
some days.
2. Quit trying to downplay the step-mom's role in your child's life.
No - I didn't carry your child in my womb or endure the horrible pains of labor
with him, but there are plenty of women out there who do give birth that are
considered a "mother" merely because they could reproduce. I am,
in a sense, his mother just as much as you are. I am the parent who (on
half of the days of his life) dresses him in the morning, drives him to school,
signs his notebooks from class, hangs his art proudly on my refrigerator,
cuddles him when he gets hurt, prepares his dinners, bathes him, puts him into
his jammies, reads him bedtime stories, says his prayers with him, kisses him
goodnight, and lays beside him until he falls asleep. I sing with him, laugh
with him, love on him, cheer for his accomplishments, and discipline him when
he acts inappropriately.
The definition of the verb mother in the dictionary is: "bring up
(a child) with care and affection." Nailed it. That's me. And you, too! So
let's just accept that. If my son had a step-mother in his life I would hate to
have to share him too, but, being a child of divorce myself, I know that he
would love her, look up to her and admire her as much as his father does. And I
also remember when my bio-parents spoke badly about step-parents that I loved,
I would think negatively on my
parents, wondering why they would say such mean things about someone
that I cared about. I was always too young to see any of their short-comings,
and didn't realize until I was in my twenties who was actually at fault in some
situations. And by then it didn't matter. And I still love them all now just as
much as I always have. It's a special bond, the one that forms between you and
the people who raise you.
So - I won't talk badly about you and you don't talk badly about me, ok? Pinky
swear? ;)
3.
Appreciate the step-mother.
If
your child has a step-mother in his life that cares for him and wants to get
involved with his life, you should be SO THANKFUL for her!! So thankful that
you know your child is being taken care of; that you don't have to be
constantly worried they in an unfavorable environment. So thankful that your
child has another good and loving woman that they can connect with. Another
cheerleader. Another soul to bond with. So if you can see that she is trying
and making an effort to be in your child's life, let yourself appreciate her...
if only for a minute. I think anyone would agree that you can never have too
much family or people who love you and care about how you are raised.
I am very aware that my step-son will always look to me for motherly guidance.
He will study my behaviors all of his life as I (do my absolute best to) model
how a strong Christian woman and wife should present herself. I will admit that
it doesn't come as naturally to me to act motherly with him as it does with my
bio son. And I find myself having to make an effort to be concerned with how I
act around him, but I try every day that he is with our family to be a fair,
honest, and loving individual towards him. My biological son is watching most
of the time as well so that also helps.
It is nearly impossible to care for someone else's child like your own, so if
that is what she is trying to do, try to see the positive things this woman can
create for your child, and even yourself.
4. Don't dismiss her opinions.
I know it is just her
insecurities when our bio-mom dismisses my opinions with a rude "not your
problem, not your decision, not your child" attitude, but it would do her
good to think before she concludes that I am merely a useless bystander. As
mentioned before, I help with every single decision that his father makes for
him, large and small. More importantly, I influences these decisions based on
the little boy that I have known and loved since he was 8 months old. Her
child's problems are actually my problems and the decisions
on how to handle them are (50%)
my decision when he is in my household. And due to a woman's natural motherly
instinct, a step-mom might even come up with a better solution than his own
father could! Others that love him ask for and value my opinions about his
life and behavior, and any of them would agree that I am a very valuable part
of his life.
I can totally understand how your child's step-mother may seem be intrusive
from time to time, but I can guarantee that you'd rather have the one that
cares over the one who does not. And although you may think you know the
ultimate best for your child, it never hurts to have another opinion on things,
especially if they come from a source with truly good intentions
5. Don't
interfering with her marriage.
I'm hoping this isn't as much a
problem in most blended families as it is in mine. Your ex has moved on and is
with someone else - possibly has children with that person. The two of you
could not make things work for a reason - even with the sadness of knowing that
if you didn't stay together you would have to give up being with your child
100% of the time. Don't try to figure out how the marriage is between them.
Just stay out. Enough said.
That's all I got but hopefully
it helps a bit. Let me know if you agree/disagree, are in the same boat, jumped
from this boat a long time ago, or are just about to set sail -- and if you
have any opinions and helpful hints of your own!
