3 days ago
Teen Begs to Move Away with Dad to Avoid Mom's New Husband, but She Says He Is Abandoning Their Family
Caught between loyalty and resentment, a teen opens up about why he chose to leave his mom's home and the painful fallout that followed
A teen turns to the Reddit community for advice following a difficult decision that left emotions running high in his family.
In a candid post, the 16-year-old boy asks if he's wrong for moving to another state with his dad and older sister, while limiting contact with his mom and her new family.
'My parents have been divorced most of my life,' the teen shares, noting that he and his 19-year-old sister have barely any memories of their parents being together. The siblings have been splitting time between their mom's and dad's houses ever since the divorce.
Everything changed when the teen's mom started dating her now-husband, who has three children of his own, when the poster was around 10 years old.
'Me and my sister didn't like him,' the teen admits, explaining that although they had gotten along with other men their mom dated, this man 'always rubbed both of us the wrong way.'
'He's a pretty big a-- when he's talking to people,' the teen writes bluntly. He says his mom excused her husband's behavior by blaming it on his military background, but the teen doesn't buy it.
'I don't think everyone in the military talks to others like they're giving orders 24/7,' he explains. According to the teen, it isn't just he and his sister who feel this way, as his mom's family and neighbors also avoid her husband.
He even recalls hearing that the man once lost a job because of how he treats others. Despite the growing tension, his mom still chose to marry him, leaving the siblings feeling trapped.
'We tried to spend more time at dad's but mom would never allow it,' the teen remembers. He explains that the courts also didn't support it, making it difficult for them to avoid their mom's house.
When his sister was around 17 years old, a judge decided to let her spend less time at their mom's house. But for the poster, he had no choice but to continue visiting.
During these visits, his mom would repeatedly pressure him to bond with her husband. 'She said he did so much and I could at least try to love him because he wasn't as bad as me and my sister felt he was,' the teen writes.
He didn't hold back in sharing his true feelings, telling his mom, 'I'd never see why she loved him and that I just didn't get it.' He admits he'd rather be at school every single day than spend even an hour with her husband.
His mom also urged him to connect with his younger stepsiblings. But the teen has no desire to get to know them, explaining that they were simply 'her husband's kids' to him.
Still, he says he wasn't rude to the stepsiblings and kept things polite. But he's clear about where he stands.
'I never tried to act like their brother or gave them false hope of a forever relationship," he writes.
So, when his dad received a job offer in another state, the teen didn't hesitate to push for the move. 'I begged him to take it and try to take me with him,' he shares, adding that his sister was also eager to go since she planned to start college nearby.
Though their mom initially refused to allow it, they took the matter to court. The teen recalls the moment clearly, writing, 'I told them I wanted to go with dad and my sister and I'd give anything to move with them.'
His mom was heartbroken when she found out, and the teen remembers her crying as she asked why he wanted to leave so badly. When the judge ruled in his favor, his mom used her remaining visits to try and change his mind.
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'She asked me how I could leave her and my stepsiblings,' the teen says, sharing how she tried to guilt him by mentioning her stepkids' difficult past. 'She put it on me that they had lost so much already,' he adds, noting that their mother had lost custody of them years earlier.
But the teen stood firm, telling his mom that he "didn't want to stay there" or "deal with her decisions anymore.' He says she shouldn't have been surprised that he didn't want to be part of the family she chose to build.
Now, after the move, his mom calls almost daily, and she has his stepsiblings reaching out too. However, he admits to ignoring most of their calls and plans to go "full no contact once I'm 18.'
Though the court order currently requires them to stay in touch once a week, the teen has made it clear where he stands. His mom recently found out about his plans and called him 'a jerk," telling him they're 'a family whether I like it or not.'
Read the original article on People
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