Hi everyone, I see many of us have something in common, Step-children.
I typed in step parenting forum on my yahoo browser and this site caem up so I joned.

I am not a woman though so maybe my participation is not welcomed, If not please just email me my resignation.

A brief explanation of my situation and I will get back to raeding some of your stories, which are very interesting if I may say.

I have been married four times. Yeah I know,you can drive the stake through my heart if you want. Call me irresponsible,unable to commit to a relationship or just plain foolish.

Had I done things differently I may very well be happier today. I would certainly be better off financially thats for sure.

Ok here's my brief story.

Married to the same great woman for 10 years in September. She had a 4 year old boy when we met and I had a 12 year old daughter and 7 year old daughter whom lived with their mother a few states away. My oldest daughter moved in with us when she turned 16, she was very rude to my wife and hated any rules of any kind (if they were enforced). She would skip school and have her mother call from three states away and excuse her so the school would not call us to let us (or me) know she was doing it.

This went on for the first semester of high school until we got her report card.
Once she found out how bad her decision had been and that she no longer had any free time she decided to run back to her mothers for good.

My step-son is 14 now and he is very rude to his mom and me. But my wife doesnt see any problem with this. I enforced the rules with my daughter and it ended up badly at the time but she respects me now. Its just so different with my wife, she is looking the other way and it is begining to put a very big strain on our relationship.