Blended families, whilst more common nowadays, can sometimes be tricky to navigate, as you don't want to overstep any boundaries - especially where children are concerned.
One man was left silently seething, however, at his wife's daughter from a previous relationship, referring to her as a "nightmare", even complaining about her to his pals, claiming he "can't wait until she turns 18 so she can face her own consequences."
His wife "blew her top", however, when she heard what her husband had said, and kicked him out for his unkind words.
But people on Reddit said the man was a "saint" for what he'd put up with from his wife's daughter.
He wrote: "I married my wife about two years ago and she has a daughter from a previous relationship. Early on during our dating period, she made it clear that her daughter has a father and she's not looking for another father for her.
"The ground rules were set by her which and that I will be an adult figure but not a parental one. I will have no say in how she is to be brought up and I can't punish her in any way. Considering she was 14 when her mum and I met and 15 when we married, I agreed to her rules. My thinking is that she's already too old for me to make any difference in her life so why make it an issue?"
But little did he know, there were plenty of issues to come, and they were down to his wife's daughter's behaviour.
"Fast forward a couple of years and my life has been a nightmare", he continued. "The girl constantly gets into trouble and has been kicked out of several schools (she lived with her father at the time). She had to move in with us so she could attend a new high school in order to graduate.
"She's been suspended several times at this school but it looks like she'll graduate on time. While living with us, she’s gotten into two car accidents (once when she was drunk) and we had to remortgage our house to pay her attorney fees and legal bills.
"The judge dressed us down in court for not being better parents. I'm not a legal expert at all but from movies and shows, I know that judges can jail you for arguing so I bit my tongue and took it. It was humiliating."
And the man found himself unable to bite his tongue anymore when he was with some pals, but word got back to his wife about what he'd said.
He continued: "The girl is a couple of months away from being an adult and this weekend, I was out with the guys and she came up in conversation. I complained about how much money I'd spent bailing her out of trouble and that I can't wait until she turns 18 so she can face her own consequences.
"Word got back to my wife and she blew her top. I still don't think I said anything wrong but I'm staying at a motel tonight.
"I want to be clear we're not kicking her out and considering she doesn't work, she'll be living with us for a while. I'm just waiting for the day she's an adult so I won't be yelled at by any more judges."
In the comments, people defended the man, saying that he was doing way more than he should be considering he's not a parental figure for the girl.
One wrote: "If you're not a parental figure why are you paying for these things at all? You're a saint for putting up with this."
Another said: "Poor original poster. He should've bailed much sooner. And no one should've given the girl a second car to wreck!"
Someone fumed: "Mum wants to be a terrible mother and wanted to ruin any possible relationship her daughter and her husband could have had. She is the problem, not the daughter."
"Not the a**hole", a Redditor reassured. "Except you might be acting an a**hole to yourself for staying with this."
Have you had a similar family drama? Email: danielle.wroe@reachplc.com
