#AskDad: Spoiled Stepdaughter Spoiling My Marriage
Dear AskDad,
I’m at odds. My step-daughter has no manners and her father won’t discipline her at all. He is so hard on our son but such a softie with that girl. She is spoiled beyond belief and has him wrapped around her little finger, anything she want he does, and he sees no problem with it. She is rude, she can be nasty she takes no responsibility and she doesn’t listen to anyone about anything. It is getting to the point that it is hurting our marriage. What do I do?
-Fed up
Dear Fed up
Have a conversation with your husband but I recommend doing it in writing via email or text. I can hear the emotion coming through your words. I recommend having this conversation via email because it needs to be based purely on the facts and be devoid of emotion. Once you start getting emotional about it he will stop listening. You need to present what he is doing as enabling behavior and a dereliction of fatherly duty, and you MUST present it in a way that he will clearly hear and understand, and I guarantee you that once he thinks you’re yelling at him or complaining about his baby girl he will stop listening but if you frame it as a conversation that will help her become a better person and him a better father he will listen. In the words of Sgt. Friday “Just the facts”.
