Abby Connolly
If you’ve ever had blood siblings and eventually stepsiblings, you know it’s sometimes a lot more difficult to bond with your stepbrother or stepsister than your biological sibling.
One man has always been very close to his biological sister versus his stepsister due to his rocky relationship with his mom and their age gap. Now, his stepsister wants to move in with him before she goes to college, and he has to say no.
He’s 32-years-old and has a younger sister who is 26. Growing up, they were always very close. Unfortunately, their dad passed away when his sister was a baby. His death left them in a tough situation, as he and his sister don’t have a great relationship with their mom.
“She did not believe in children having any downtime; she believed boys should be athletic and do as many physical activities as possible,” he said.
“When I was a kid, she had me in basketball, football, hockey, karate, and boxing. I had no say in the activities I did, and my mother expected me to excel at them all. I was never a kid into sports or athletics in general, so I hated it, and I was never very good.”
This caused a strain in their relationship for years. Whenever he told his mom he wanted to pursue something else, she told him to be masculine, strong, and try harder.
His mom did the same thing to his sister and insisted on enrolling her in “girl-appropriate activities” like dance and art classes.
When he was a teenager, he and his mom were on such bad terms that they each knew he’d be moving out the moment he turned 18.
Before then, when he was 16, his mom remarried his stepfather, who had two kids that were only two and four at the time.
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