Step Mamas 🇬🇧

My SS is 11 and in year 7. It looks like he didn’t sort out his PE bag and I didn’t realise until I looked on the school app when a notification for something else. He knows his timetable and also has access to it via his phone and a print out in his blazer that he does check. We’ve told him before if he’s responsible enough to have a phone and be on it, he’s responsible enough to check if he has homework or what he needs for school that week and has more than enough time in an evening and morning to make sure things are ready for the day, if anything that’s why I get him to sort everything out the evening before so he’s not running around like a headless chicken and stressing before school. Both me and my partner won’t have time to get it to him before his lesson and he’s done this before with his phone but now my partners like why didn’t you check??

When we have my partners son all weekend, he will FaceTime his mum every morning and every night, which is fine.

My issue comes with my partners ex will be on FaceTime, naked in bed, on the toilet having a poo or prop the phone up whilst wrapped in a towel, knowing my partner can see the screen.

He finds it weird too but if he says anything, it’s made into an issue with her so he just doesn’t say anything.

Hi step mums. Hope you’re all doing well.

Just looking for advice on how you navigate your step children being ill when they come to visit. I have a baby and my SD is 6 so is alllllwaaays getting sick at school. My husbands line is ‘I have to look after her reguardless’ but I wonder if there could be a bit more flexibility when SD has a highly contagious illnesses. I seem to get every cold she has and it takes me out for weeks. The baby also gets ill as does my mum (who is almost 80 so is very vulnerable). Is it unreasonable to sometimes ask that SD comes and stays a day or so later so we don’t all get sick? It has happened this week. I am going back to work next week (after mat leave) so very anxious not to get sick. The doctor was called this time and he advised that SD stay home and not be around the baby. Which my husband now agrees with but when I suggested it before the dr was called he got angry at me and isn’t talking to me as a result. Please help! How do other family’s get through this?

Hi Mums! I stuck with some horrible guilt and my partner is making it worse. I recently got a payout due to something very sensitive and personal, my plan was to always put some money aside for my little one, get a car and go on holiday. It's not actually a lot of money at all but enough to go to Spain or something this year for my little ones first holiday. I've been planning it and my partner turned around and said maybe his 2 other older kids could come? Baring in mind he can't afford to chip in at all and I don't have enough money to pay for everyone as I'll also be taking my Mum as she's never been abroad. I explained that I don't have enough money to pay for everyone (around 5k if his 2 kids come)... He now keeps sulking around saying he feels bad and it's not fair our little one is going and they're not. Baring in mind me and him always went on holidays alone every year without his kids and he's never taken them abroad himself, they go away with their Mum and their Step Dad every year.

Now we're at a point where he couldn't really care less about planning our little ones first holiday and he keeps saying we need to book a UK holiday for school summer holidays for them then (not sure where we'll get the money but I said I'll be happy to book a camping trip at a seaside but it just seems not good enough)

I now feel sooo guilty. I knew from the get go that he has children but it's only now that we have our little I'd noticed we're not able to do any of our "first things" alone with our little unless his 2 kids are involved.

Any advice?

Just after some opinions, from those mommas with more kids than bedrooms 🤣

I have a 18 month old and a 7 year old SD. Me and my partner are thinking about another, but at the moment we all have our own rooms.

SD currently has the biggest bedroom (dont ask) but we are rearranging to her having the box room as she only stays with us weekends and holidays. Me and my partner will go into the big room and our daughter will have the middle sized room. If we had another baby, it would be in our room for the first year or so anyway so I'm more looking into the future...

When it's time for baby to move into their own room I just can't figure out how it would work? Would baby have to share a room with our daughter in the middle sized room? But then it seems silly to have a bedroom empty 5 / 6 days a week just so SD can have it at weekends. Would baby have the box room during the week and then share the middle size room at weekends? Every scenario I think of just seems to be unfair on somebody, maybe I'm over thinking it im not sure... I would just love to hear how other mommas in a similar situation have worked it please x