Preteen SD lies, steals, hoards trash/food in room, plays with fire
Whew! So here goes nothing. I have been with my stepkids' father for about 3 years. About a year ago, we all moved together in the same home, along with my 9 year old son (at the time.) DH (I guess that means dear husband), has physical custody of his kids, SD12, SS14. Not legally but physically. Mom is on 2nd/3rd relationship within that same amount of time, now with women. Often financially/housing unstable so now he has the kids. When I first began dating DH, I noticed the the SD, who was 9/10 at the time, was incredibly clingy to new people she met, including me. Like after a week or so of meeting, climbing in the bed with me while I'm watching tv and cuddling. She has also done this to her adult brother's GF, who she had just met. This was alarming to me and I told her father, who didn't seem as alarmed to me as I would have expected. I also learned very early on that SD is a liar. When I said something about it being an issue, her parents minimized it, saying "yeah, she tells stories." Before we lived together, I noticed odd things she would do. For example if someone was outside very briefly, she would lock the door so the person would have to knock to come back in. She would say she didn't do it, which was untrue. I noticed that she had this facination with candle wax. I purchased them wax warmers for their home before I moved in. DH thought the "was was exploding" because he would come home daily to wax spilled all over the table, floor, splashed on the wall. If he had candles lit, there would be wax around the table by the candle and finger holes in it. He believed absurd/freakish things were happening instead of the obvious. When she came my home, I noticed wax splattered the same way. I didn't give her a chance to lie, I just told her I know she is doing it and to stop. She continued for the nex couple of years until I banned her from having candles once we lived together. I then began to notice she had an interest in fire. I would find lighters in her room, burned pieces of paper, burn mark on her bed, all which she "didn't know how any of that happened." I have asked her several times, not to eat in her room because she was leaving cups, plates, ect. Instead of stopping, it increased SIGNIFICANTLY. She would sneak plates of food in her room and lie about it. For example, she could be cooking something in the microwave. 1 minute later, she is gone, the food is no at the kitchen table or the trash and she is in her room. I'd ask her if she has the plate of food in her room and she would tell me no with no hesitation or blinking. But my BS would actually SEE HER and tell me she's lying. I would check her room and she has dirty plates, cups, empty food containers, empty boxes of cereal, spoons. DOZENS of candy wrappers, chips bags under her bed, hidden in bookbags, in her closet, in drawers, under her pillow, EVERYWHERE. If I am missing something and I ask her if she has it, not only will she say no but also "I don't even know what that is. I've never seen that in my life." You look under her bed or a drawer and she has it hidden there. I have literally dozens of perfumes and told her that she could use any of them EXCEPT 2 specific ones that were discontinued favorites. Out of the dozens of perfumes, guess which ones are missing? THE SPECIFIC ONES I ASKED HER NOT TO USE. I knew she had them but she would say no, ever so innocently. I would tell her father that she has it and he would say, well IDK what you want me to do because she said she doesn't. I actually smelled it on her one day and got fed up. I looked in her bookbag, and of course there they were . . .basically empty. I ask her to stay out of my room while I am at work. I return to see lights on in the room that I didn't leave, glass jewelry box cracked, missing costume jewelry, missing money, etc. Again, she swears she has not been in my room or taken anything. Well how do you explain your pajamas on the floor in my room? No explanation. I have always purchased my BS nice clothing, quality sheets, new shoes often, etc. I started to do the same for the SK but the brand new clothes would go unworn, thrown in bottom of the closet. Would keep the same nasty sheets on the bed until I demanded that they change them as if they refuse to use the nice linen. I had a class pet in a tight lid shoebox on the porch. She went outside to "check on it" and offered to tell me "the pet is fine!" I didn't ask. 20 minutes later I went outside to check the pet and it was gone. Of couse, she didn't do anything. When I check her on stuff , she will squint her eyes and stare at me without responding. . .when her dad isn't home. When he comes home she is super fake, asking me the same script everytime even if it makes no sense. Ex, "how was work today?" knowing it is a holiday and no one worked. "How did you sleep?" in front of her dad, when she literally saw me hours ago. I could be in the kitched cooking or cleaning and she has come into the kitchen and simply JUST STARED AT ME. This is just the tip of the iceburg yall. EVERYTHING OUT OF HER MOUTH IS A LIE. Even things that seem pointless. Once I was confronting her about something and she said she wanted to go live with her unstable mother, who does NOTHING for them but make empty promises while she acts like a childless 21 year old. When I told her father she said that, of course she said she did not. Don't lie ON me to my husband. She's visiting her mother for this summer and we are checking her room. It is HORRIBLE. Her room looks like it is in an entirely different house. I've have already disengaged because it has felt like I am the only adult that sees that she has a problem. I was told I'm targeting her, yet she walks around with the bullseye. She has had FOUR phones within a year and has broken them all. 3 of them she was asked how they cracked so badly and she says she doesn't know. I refused to add another phone on my plan, but DH feels like she needs it for safety. The last one she had for a month, and now that one too is broken. DH has gotten better with seeing that there is some type of issue with her as of recently. I think the behavior is only going to get worse. If she returns to my home after visiting her mother, I am positive the behaviors will increase significantly. We are moving soon and I have communicated with DH that she cannot live where I am, in a nutshell. I think her lies and manipulation are dangerous, her lying about playing with fire is dangerous, her hoarding brings pests and rodents, and she is just overall sneaky and a bad influence on BS and SS. Honestly I think she depises me for pulling back the curtain like the Wizard of OZ. How dare I call her out and shine the spotlight on her when for years she was the "Pretty Princess who liked to tell stories." On top of that, I don't think she likes the fact that her father is happy with me and divorced, even though her mother left the marriage to be with women. This is already long enough, but I needed to get this off of my chest. Mind you, we have only lived together FOR ONE YEAR!
Your problem is with your SO - not your SD.
Your problem is with your SO - not your SD. (SO = Significant Other, DH=Dear Husband) This girl clearly has some mental issues and it doesn't sound like your SO is doing anything about them. Is she in therapy for her issues with fire? How does he discipline her for the food? It doesn't sound like sending her to live with her mother would help her in any way.
I know this probably isn't what you want to hear, but my advice would be for you and your son to live together and let SO and his kids live together. If he gets SD the help she needs, then consider moving back in together - until then, just date. If this girl is this unstable, it is not a good environment for your son to be in, and you don't want to run the risk of her lying about him.
Your SO should also go through the courts and get an official custody order with child support. It never ends well when things are not formalized.
Thank you for responding
No, I want to hear it all!! THank you! Your thoughts were validating because I have felt the same. When she was with her mom in a different state, I think they had some type of government insurance. When he got them, his insurance was too high, even for himself, and didn't cover just about anything. My new job has free insurance for ME, but if I insured the family, it would be the entire paycheck. I am transitioning to another job where the insurance is awesome and decently priced for me, BS, DH, and all of his children. My main problem was with him, seeming like he was in denial that this child has a serious problem. He has come around to accept that recently because a lot of the things he is finding out, he just can't deny. I have BEEN told him about getting custody, but it's like he just didn't want the battle with the wishy washy mom. Now he sees that it is really no choice. Unfortunately, it is because I have been firm that my child and I WILL have a safe, clean space (which is what he has always been used to) and NO ONE will jeopardize that. I will even put her on my insurance and her parents can take her to therapy. But she CANNOT LIVE UNDER THE SAME ROOF AS ME AND MY SON ANYMORE.
Oh yeah
And another thing. Regarding the discipline. DH has done things like take her phone and TV for WEEKS. Alarmingly, she acts totally unaffected. She's still has this fake chipper attitude. Then when she gets the stuff back, she IMMEDIATELY returns to the same behavior. Further confirmation to me that she is mentally ill.
Your SO is doing nothing
This girl has mental problems. You must get out now with your kids. Before SD stares a house fire. Where someone could get really hurt . I don't know how you sleep at night ? Lots of smoke detectors ... Make sure SD doesn't remove the battery's. Or disable them. Like more then one.
'This is not going well. DH not helping her but having his head in the sand. Doesn't help the problem.
Thank you!
My sentiments exactly. I was going through her room and found a burned piece of paper. I showed it to him and he immediately asked SD about it. Of course she replied, "I don't know what that is." He has gone from denial to angry and sad. He has looked up therapy for her but I don't care at this point. BOOK THE APPOINTMENT AND SEND HER THERE. If that isn't happening, there isn't anything else for us to talk about.
I have to agree with the
I have to agree with the other posters. All those things she does add up to a scary situation. She needs serious help before her acts end up harming or killing someone. And it's not fair to your own child/you to live in so much chaos. Please consider getting your own place and "dating" her dad bcause she's a ticking time bomb and neither of her parents are doing anything to disarm it.
Thank you for responding
That is the plan. We are in the middle of transitioning from this current home and I am looking for one less bedroom. There won't even be a room for her to come back to live. I used to feel terrible about how I felt towards this child but that is a disservice to her, myself,my child, and my marriage. I have felt like nothing but an extra financial resource to this child. He thought I would be this awesome influence in her life, but that is not possible if there is a mental health block in the way. She is very phony when pretending like she "loves" me and appreciates things I do for her. It appears that she has developed this manipulative personality to get her needs and wants met when that is not even necessary in our home. But these problems were BEFORE me and only I was the one to pull the lid back. It just feels good to know that I am not blowing things out of proportion. I see the storm on the horizon with this one.
This kid has major mental problems.
I would not let this kid kill me. She will set a fire and burn down your homes, along with DH. and they will put her into a mental institution. Because you knew she was nuts. This IS NOT DISENGAGING, this is saving your life. Disengageing is not cooking, not driving her around. Not fire watch
Amen!! Because if that is
Amen!! Because if that is what disengaging is, I wasn't even doing that! Smh
White space please.
White space please. Paragraphs help people read and track. You will find you get more participation if you make this more comfortable for your readers.
That said.....
WEB CAMS!! Stop playing games with this rotten failed family spawn and her idiot father. They are both at fault. Put locks on every cabinet, the pantry, your bedroom door, have the entire house under the hairy eyeball of 24/7 monitored security cams inside and out. Except inside of bedrooms and bathrooms. But anything taken in our out of a bedroom should be captured. Make every evening web cam footage review with the lying shit spawn and her idiot father. Pre-screen it all and have her crap and his highlighted with your questions ready to bare their idiot asses with.
Better yet, just end it and put them both on the curb and out of your life.
It is sad that you are serving your own kid up to be consumed by this shit failed family spawn and sadly, her idiot father. Stop that. Your kid does not deserve to be a victim of your poor judgement in a current mate and his baggage.
Live your best life. Give your kid a chance at living their best life.. That cannot happen if they are in it
Take care of you. Take care of your kids.
Good luck.
I'm not doing prison watch in
I'm not doing prison watch in my home. I have moved and there is nowhere for her to stay in our home. She is with her mother who I am sure continues to be in denial. I have not seen or spoken to the child in over 2 months. It seems that she is a sociopath at minimum. She is not missed and I'm sure she does not miss us. The efforts of "love" she has shown in the past were merely manipulation tactics.
This is my first post here
This is my first post here ever. Is it able to be edited to add spacing? Trying to find it.
Paragraph Return
FYI, its the paragraph return on your keyboard - usually lower-right arrow that goes down then left.
Welcome to StepTalk!
I don't t hink that you can
I don't t hink that you can go back to edit an original post once you submit. Not a problem. I read your OP above. White space can be done on future posts.
Take care of yourself. This kid is dangerous with her manipulations.
She lighting fires in her room
You don't need a web cam. You need to ....Not let her sleep in your home. Before you wake up to your room on fire. I could never sleep if this kid was in my home. She needs help ASAP. Before she hurts herself or other people. This is not normal...far from normal..
Exactly. We will not live
Exactly. We will not live under the same roof again. I don't want her to spend the night either. I have also ceased trying to spearhead therapy, counseling, etc. Even was trying to put her on MY health insurance. Her mother who she now lives with has been made aware of the behaviors given that there are other children in the home that belong to her partner. It's only a matter of time before something happens or the mom's partner also declares that she no longer wants any parts of the situation.
I hate to be so negative.
This kid needs help. Major help. She has a BM and BF who should do there responsibilities and get this kid help.
You are correct, No one want to be in this position. No one wants to be jailer, guard, social worker. That is what parents do,
Then again I could not sleep at night with SD playing with fire. I would not want my kids or abd myself be burned to death . Weather. On purpose or by accident. Kids don't play with fire in my home
It's not your fault, but you must protect yourseif abd your family. Best of luck