You are here

Future SD creating grandiose stories to her BM, lying about obscure things and having no consequences for it. HELP!

should i stay or should i go's picture

My fiancé and his ex wife seem to be in denial about some unusual behaviors of their daughter. I have 3 children of my own so I am not new to raising kids. I am also a nurse, so I am sensitive to age related unexpected behaviors and signs of mental disorders. I have tried very hard for the last two years to gently point out behaviors that have become down right embarrassing in groups of people His daughter is 14 and things are really escalating as she gets older. She is lying more and more often, creating untrue scenarios where she is the victim, to her BM. She has zero interest in her hygiene and prefers to be disheveled, dirty and in the same clothing for days on end. Her gums have grown over her teeth due to bad oral hygiene. she crawls on the floor in public places. She has to be first in line, have the front seat in the car and will run people over to get the "spot " she wants. She has little awareness of other people around her, leaving soiled feminine products out on bathroom vanities in shared bathrooms on vacation, (I have a 15 year old son that is absolutely grossed out) she does odd things like stuffing cheese and perishable food items in sofa cushions, people's briefcases, anywhere that does not require her to get up and throw things away as most young adults would. She constantly has items of any material in her mouth and chews them to destruction. She can devour a plastic spoon in minutes. She is completely checked out and her attention can not be obtained, even when shouting her name loudly at close proximity, when she is on any electronic device. She has recently engaged in a "game" at school that resulted in open sores and bleeding scratches up and down her arms from scratching herself with erasers. Before anyone even saw the open wounds she offered a fictitious story that she got them diving for a book. Once the truth was realized, nothing was done and it was brushed under the rug. I could go on and on with the list of unusual behaviors that are completely unnoticed and ignored by her parents. My concern is, is it too late to get this girl help, and if it is done due to my prompting of her father will this end badly? I think I know the answer to that... This is not a new issue and it just baffles me that it has gone on 14 years with no intervention. She has been licking windows and doing very odd behaviors since she was a very small child. Nothing has ever been addressed.
My fiancé appears to be a well put together guy. I say appears, bc maybe I am missing something in a father that doesn't notice these behaviors AT ALL. He holds much higher standards for himself and his actions, than he expects from his daughter. He is very hesitant to "poke the tiger" in his ex wife and he lets boundaries be crossed all the time.He is afraid to broach the subject of the behaviors now that I have pointed them out, to his ex wife. I understand to a certain extent bc his ex is certifiably psychotic, but come on????

Is this just life as a step parent? Do I just have to stay quiet since this isn't my child? I feel this will deteriorate my relationship with my fin ace over time. He thinks I should be more supportive, but I can't b/c the ex wife has told me to do nothing but just be present in the room around HER children. I have already been called a stupid bitch by his ex-wife for giving an over the counter allergy pill to his son. His ex wife insults me every time I see her. I am not sure I can tolerate this forever..... my question is...is this just the way it is when you are merging families?

Comments

gaviotas's picture

OMG, what a list of symptoms of mental disorder! She needs help ASAP.
Nobody does anything for her, not her parents, you can´t.
If they are blind or don´t realise she is not ok, this is because they do not care.
Poor girl, you can decide if you want to go on or leave the scene...I would run away

FrenchPeas's picture

Girl get the hell out. Why is bm allowed to treat you this way? And why are you taking it? Wait til the kid says your son did something to her and the crap hits the fan in a huge way. Look, my ex steps caused so many issues I left because their dad ignored or was in on all the mess with them.

Yeeks. I would be long gone. You can support yourself, obviously. Just get away from them and their insane shit

NoWireCoatHangarsEVER's picture

My stepkid would throw up all the time and about pass out. She would get horrific debilitating headaches every week for years. She missed so much school. We would be at Disney or a water park or the springs or the beach and she would eat and then become ill. She lost so much weight. She was 11 years old and went from 100 lbs to in the sixties. She lost 11 lbs in one month. I begged and screamed and yelled to my partner. He would do nothing at all while BM would get her vitamins and take her to the chiropractor. I would call his mom and beg her to intervene. I started keeping a food diary for step daughter. She would get super thirsty and drink everything in the house and then couldn't get out of bed and a light bulb came on in my head. I said "She has type 1 diabetes. It all makes and she could die if you guys don't do anything." and BM would say "oh... her sinuses are just dried out." This kid suffered so badly . and still daddyo would listen to his uneducated highschool drop out BM would just buy something called seabuddies at the vitamin store . He completely disgusted me. She completely disgusted me. and then stepdaughter was rushed to the hospital where she spent over a week with blood sugars SKY HIGH and was diagnosed wih.... wait for It... Type 1 diabetes.

I know what it is like to see alarming stuff in your stepkid and neither one of her parents do jack. I can tell you its hard to respect your partner when he won't have your back.

thinkthrice's picture

BTW, this is called "pass the baton"

In my own experiences:

Me to Chef: "Dominatrix has ring worm."
Chef to me: "How do YOU know? I'll ask the Girhippo."(Im an experienced, successful parent)
Girhippo to Chef: I'll take her to the doctor's."
Fast foward to the following weekend
Girhippo to Chef: "Doctor says she has ring worm."
Chef to me: Girhippo said that Dominatrix has ring worm."
Me: (rolls eyes)

Lather, rinse, repeat for scabies, head lice, etc.
Yeah they are slobs without a modicum of hygiene.

kathc's picture

Yeah, skids stories are going to escalate to your son attacking her or you locking her in the closet. That is not normal, they are far in denial its ridiculous. If you live separately stay that way, if you don't move out. Tell him he's got x amount of time to get help for his daughter or you're leaving him because you can't stand by and watch him neglect her. Hell, I'd even consider calling child services to intervene. That girl has some serious issues and someone needs to help her.

furkidsforme's picture

How do you have respect for a man who is neglecting to get his very troubled daughter care? As a nurse and a parent... how do you talk yourself into overlooking his abject neglect? If her needs were medical instead of mental or developmental would you be able to excuse it as easily?

oyvey's picture

:jawdrop: That's a long list of worrying symptoms. She most definitely has something going on there and needs psychological help. And of course, this has to be done by her parents. If they don't address it and take responsibility for her needs, I'd walk. You'll be stuck watching her suffer (and being made to suffer) due to their inept parenting. This is criminal!