The two women have never seen eye-to-eye (picture: Getty Images)
A step-mum received nothing but support for bluntly telling her stepdaughter she didn’t love her as much as her biological daughter.
It sounds harsh at first, but wait until you know the context.
The stepmother, 52, has been with her husband, 54, for six years and married for five. She has a 25-year-old biological daughter with her ex-husband and a 22-year-old stepdaughter.
The stepmum took to Reddit to share her reasoning for being so blunt.
She wrote: ‘My husband divorced his ex about seven years because she was a “lazy manipulative b***h” (his words).
‘Unfortunately, my stepdaughter seems to have followed in her mother’s footsteps.
‘Ever since I came into the picture, she blamed me for ruining any chance of her dad and mum ever getting back together and behaved toxically.
‘She regularly messed up all the rooms of the house. When I would tell her to clean it up, she gave me the cliched “you’re not my mum” spiel.’
The stepmum also said her stepdaughter would throw tantrums and cry when her dad said no to her, as well as telling lies about her to her husband.
She added: ‘She was a nightmare. When she turned 19, my husband finally had enough and kicked her out.
‘It’s been three years since and her behaviour seems to be improving a little bit but things are still tense between her and me.
‘Fortunately, I don’t have to see her on a daily basis so I can live with it.’
Her biological daughter has a two-year-old girl with her husband and her stepdaughter has a one-year-old son with her boyfriend – this is where the issue arose.
‘My daughter wants to save up for a house with her husband so she asked me if I could babysit while she works. I was fine with that. I have a part-time work from home job so I agreed to do it.
The argument started because the stepmum was taking care of her biological grandchild but not her stepdaughter’s child (picture: Getty Images)
‘My stepdaughter found out about this arrangement a few days ago called me to ask if I could do the same for her child.She couldn’t ask her bio mom because she lives in another state.
‘I just said no. It’s not that I hate her kid. It’s because one child is a handful already and I don’t want to give up my job which I enjoy doing. She kept probing but I still gave her the same response.’
The stepdaughter then tried to ’emotionally manipulate’ her by asking the bombshell question, ‘do you love your daughter more than you love me?’.
The stepmum added: ‘I flipped it on her and asked her if she loved her bio mum more than me, she said “yeah because she’s my mum”. So I told her that I likewise love my bio daughter more than her because she’s my daughter.
‘When she heard that she lost her s**t and started calling me a bunch of names. I just cut the call and blocked her number.’
The stepmother went on to say that her husband was on her side but said she ‘shouldn’t have indulged in her nonsense’.
‘I see where he’s coming from,’ the stepmum wrote, ‘but she’s an adult and if she wants to play stupid games, then she deserves stupid prizes.
‘I don’t owe her any favours after how she’s behaved and treated me over the years but I’m wondering if I shouldn’t have said what I said.’
But the internet swiftly concluded she hadn’t been unreasonable and was justified in her response.
One user wrote: ‘You took her game and flipped it around on her and boohoo she didn’t like it. Kudos to you for not saying anything worse because she definitely would’ve deserved it.’
Another agreed, saying: ‘Don’t do anything for her. She got mad because you treated her and said the exact same thing she did.’
One Redditor blamed her husband, writing: ‘Your husband should have nipped that behaviour in the bud while she was still a minor and should have told her it’s unacceptable to behave that way. Her behaviour now into adulthood is the result of her parents failing her and giving into her selfish antics.’
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‘My stepdaughter seems to have followed in her mother’s footsteps.’