This 29-year-old woman is married to her husband, 40, and her stepson, Byron, 16, stays with them at their house half of the time.
Included in the custody agreement is a stipulation that states that they are only allowed custody every other weekend.
Byron’s mother lives 45 minutes away, and the school Byron attends is close to his mother’s apartment. She works in the same area.
Two years ago, when in-person classes started back up again once the pandemic slowed down a bit, she told Byron that she could drive him to school.
If she wasn’t able to give Byron a ride to school, her husband would have less time to spend with him because there would be changes made to the amount of visitation they receive.
Her husband works at 5 a.m. Driving Byron to school would make her commute to work 15 minutes longer.
Plus, she would have to get up 45 minutes earlier because they only have one bathroom.
Each morning, Byron takes a shower for 40 or 45 minutes, and he doesn’t leave the bathroom until right before they have to head out the door.
“My husband and Byron’s mom won’t make him be more courteous and take a shorter shower. This is just one example of a million that really annoys me. In my opinion, they do not hold Byron accountable for his actions, do not make him act responsibly in any way, and treat him more like he’s 5, not 16,” she said.
Once Byron turned 15-years-old, she was happily anticipating the future. He was now eligible for his driver’s permit, and when he turned 16, he could get his license.
This meant that she could finally sleep in more since she would no longer have to drive Byron to school anymore.
Because of her work schedule, she drops Byron off at school early. When he got his license, he could get to school later if he wanted when he could drive to school on his own.
“However, Byron is now well into being 16 (he turned in the summer; he’s a bit older than most of his classmates) and still doesn’t even have his permit,” she explained.
“I’ve been talking to him about it since he turned 15. He seems interested, read the book and everything, but his mom tells him he’s ‘not responsible enough yet.'”
When she discussed the issue with her husband, he told her that he wouldn’t pressure his ex to allow Byron to start driving yet because her husband is concerned about Byron learning how to drive.
She pointed out that outside of the neighborhood they live in, Byron would just have to drive straight on down a street that’s 35 mph most of the drive until he would get to the neighborhood near his school, where the speed limit is 25 mph.
Now, she’s debating on letting her husband know that she doesn’t want to drive Byron to school next year when he is 17 or the year after when Byron is 18.
In her view, this advance notice would give Byron time to get his permit.
She added that if Byron was already in the process of learning to drive, she wouldn’t mind continuing to drive him to school regardless of how old he was.
“The way I feel now, though, is they are not teaching Byron responsibility, and honestly, I feel taken advantage of,” she shared.
It seems like her husband and his ex are under the assumption that she’s just going to keep driving Byron to school for the foreseeable future.
When Byron’s mother found out that she wasn’t happy driving him to school, his mother called her “selfish” because since she works in the same area as his school, it would make sense for her to be the one to drop him off.
What advice would you give her?
You can read the original post on Reddit here.
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