His Wife Melted Down On His Teen Stepdaughter For Not Being A Stereotypical Popular Kid
Back in high school, this 34-year-old man’s 31-year-old wife was the definition of the popular girl. She put chunky blonde and pink highlights in her brunette hair, and she was in high school during the mid to late 2000s.
His wife was a cheerleader with tons of friends and boyfriends, too. Everyone liked her and knew her.
“She was basically the living embodiment of the picture-perfect girl from those cheesy 2000s high school movies,” he explained.
“And then she got pregnant. When she was 15, she had her daughter. She doesn’t know who the father is, and any potential fathers for the girl up and left way back when. Her daughter is recently 16.”
He’s never been interested in being a dad since he considers children to be obnoxious. But then he fell in love with his wife and married her after two years of dating, knowing she was a mom.
It never occurred to him that he would adore playing dad to his stepdaughter, but he does. He still finds kids annoying, but his stepdaughter is different from the rest.
She’s always been a quiet, nerdy kid, even when she was super young (he married her mom back when she was only five).
“We went on daddy-daughter dates every weekend,” he said. “I played dolls with her. Let her paint my nails and do makeup on me. I drove her to and from school in my cop car. We even did daddy-daughter duo costumes for Halloween.”
“Over the past two years, she’s developed a darker dress style. I don’t know what the proper subculture of her outfits is, but according to her, she’s dressing like a horror game protagonist and a Monster High character. Purple is her main color she incorporates into this specific “aesthetic blend,” as she calls it. I don’t get it, but maybe that’s because I’m a man in my 30s, I don’t know. She likes ghosts, tarot cards, vampires, zombies, aliens, creepy Victorian dolls.”
445017 – stock.adobe.com – illustrative purposes only, not the actual person
He fails to see why this all interests his stepdaughter, but he doesn’t mind because it makes her happy, and that’s all that matters.
His stepdaughter is introverted and would rather spend her free time reading fantasy occult novels or playing video games on her computer than be around kids her own age.
She does have some friends, so he’s not too concerned that she’s a loner. While he is accepting of his stepdaughter’s unique style and interests, his wife is not.
His wife always dreamed of having a daughter more like a Barbie, into pink and super feminine and girly.
His wife also really wants his stepdaughter to find a boyfriend, pick up cheerleading, and lead a vibrant social life like she did at her age.
He understands parents have a vision for how they would like their kids to grow up and that it can be disappointing when that picture doesn’t line up with reality.
“My wife will constantly take and hide my daughter’s darker room decor,” he added. “She constantly gets pastel dresses for our daughter, tells her to wipe off her dark eye makeup, tries to set her up on dates with jock types from my daughter’s school, and convinces her to sign up for both school and summer activities like cheerleading or volleyball.”
“I could have put up with all of that; I really could have. But a few weeks ago, I woke up to my wife finally hitting her breaking point. I woke up in the middle of the night to my wife screaming and having what I can confidently describe as a borderline meltdown.”
“She was crying and saying all she ever wanted was a normal daughter who likes pink, and is a cheerleader and has a boyfriend, and will give her grandkids. I had to drag her out [of] the hallway after 30 minutes of this.”
He figured his wife would quit after some time, but she carried on. His stepdaughter stood there in the doorway of her bedroom, staring at his wife.
As for what caused his wife to spiral, his stepdaughter dyed her hair purple over the top of the blonde highlights his wife forced her to put in her hair.
He and his wife have a rule in the house that his stepdaughter can dye her hair however she chooses, so long as she doesn’t ruin a bunch of towels in the process, so his wife’s meltdown over hair dye wasn’t warranted.
Several weeks have gone by since the meltdown, and his stepdaughter won’t say a word to his wife. His wife has doubled down on trying to make his stepdaughter change her style.
“Every day, she brings home some type of trendy clothing in pink or pastels and tries to give it to my daughter,” he continued.
“My daughter is getting fed up and stays in her room all day and has confessed to me she can’t wait for school to start back up in a few weeks so she can get out [of] the house and be with her friends again.”
“I don’t know what to do. I feel like I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place. I don’t want to “side” with anyone in this situation. I understand my wife wants a daughter who she can relate, and my daughter wants a mom who understands her. I don’t know what I can or should do. I need help.”
What advice do you have for him?
You can read the original post on Reddit here.
Sign up for Chip Chick’s newsletter and get stories like this delivered to your inbox.
More About:Relationships