I used to see my DH treat his kids WAY better than mine all the time. Simply because they were his kids, he only saw them on weekends, and that's what they'd come to expect for the 7 years my DH was single post-divorce.

Now that they are in their teens and their true colors are being recognized for what they are instead of saintly sparkly white, my DH is becoming much closer to my 2 kids.

Somewhere along this rocky road he has seen that his kids are manipulative, selfish, and don't give a hoot about him unless he's doing something for them (usually involving abundant financial resources). When they're here they barely come out of their rooms, don't really speak to him, are rude to my kids, and behave as though I don't even exist.

I think my DH got really tired of trying to make things good and right with them, because there would not be any forgiveness on the part of my SK's because my DH remarried.

Part of that is b/c of guilty daddy and spending money on them and they came to expect it. Plus daddy was always trying to make things right by them. There was NOTHING to make right by them. That is part of the guilty daddy thinking is that he has to make things right by the kids when in reality there is nothing to make right.

My dh started to do this but I am so glad it did not continue. Dh started out favoring his kids but now he treats them all the same thank god.