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Grandparenting

Step Grandmother overstepping boundaries, how do I handle this?

(17 Posts)
My2greatgrands Mon 14-Feb-22 00:48:53

Hi! I am new here and thank you for allowing me to join. I have a huge problem and don’t know how to handle it. I have to give a little bit of history for you to understand. I have 2 daughters from my first marriage. We married very young I had my first daughter when I was 27 and the second when I was 18. My husband was only a year older than I was and very controlling and jealous, he was also very mentally abusive and he ended up having an affair. We divorced when I was 19. Shortly after we divorced he took a job working overseas on off shore rigs and did that for 35-49 years. The kept him away for a month and back a month for all of those years so he only saw the girls his month back and then it was at his convenience, he didn’t let it interfere with his social life. He always paid his child support though, never missed and was only late one time. He ended up getting married when the girls were young and encouraged the girls to call her mom. I just said I didn’t want them calling her Mom in front of me. I don’t know if I was right or wrong, I was a very young Mom and I always wanted to do the right thing but I am far from perfect. I don’t always know what the right thing is. I always thought as long as my kids know how much I love them we will make it through the rest. The stepmom and I had issues off and on but I tried hard to get along with her for the sake of the girls. I invited the 2 of them over for supper one night for the girls and just tried to do the right thing. Most people would say they couldn’t believe how well I got along with her and that they would never be able to do what I do. I remarried and had a boy, before they married and ended up divorced because he would never come home he was always out drinking. He however didn’t pay his child support and didn’t spend time with his son which was so heart breaking. I begged him to be a father and it never happened. My son would see the girls Dad come and pick them up and bring them back and it would break his heart, he finally one day asked their Dad if he could go too. Their Dad told him he could go the next time and he was all excited. He was 3 or 4, I can’t remember for sure but he was a bed wetter, we were seeing urologist and trying to get it resolved, but he had a very small bladder. When the girls Dad came to get them he was in a bad mood and I asked him what was wrong and he said his wife was mad because he was letting my son go. I told him if it was going to cause trouble not to take but he insisted. The next day he called mad and said he was bringing him home cause he peed the bed. I had told him that he was a bed wetter before he went. When he got home he had handprints on his little butt. Needless to say I was very upset. When he brought the girls home they were all upset and said that his wife wouldn’t talk to my son or have anything to do with him. They said he asked for a drink of water and she just looked at him and walked off. They were both partial to my oldest daughter and made it very obvious. My younger daughter was very ornery and strong willed but she was still a very beautiful loving child. She did test me a lot, lol but that’s normal. I always called it middle child syndrome. I grew up with a grandmother that didn’t like me, I didn’t live with her but it really affected me and my self esteem. Their treatment really affected her. Anyway I raised these kids by myself, outside of the very small amount of child support he paid he was of no help. I even had asked him to talk to them if we were having issues and he would just say he didn’t want to get involved. He got them when it was convenient for them and if he had a notion to bring them back early I better be there, I guess I was supposed to read his mind. If he was mad at me he wouldn’t allow them to call me or me to call them when he had them. When his wife took him to the airport or picked him up for his job she would not allow them to go with her, she didn’t want to share his attention. When my oldest was 18 she was pregnant, my kids were taised proliferate, we don’t kill babies, God puts them there for a reason. Her Dad tried to talk her into an abortion. Of course I was furious!! She had a precious baby boy, dumped the biological Dad, he was worthless and actually met her husband a few months later. He is my grandson’s Dad in every way except blood. That grandson is now 26 years old and 6’5” tall and I can’t imagine life without him. My girls are 44 and 45 years old now. I have 7 grandkids, 6 of them are from my girls. I also have 2 greatgrandkids that are twin boys and 2 years old. His wife has overstepped off and on, mostly on throughout the years but I have tolerated it. Well it is getting much worse. My daughter and son-in-law and I had some major issues. I suffer from depression and anxiety and I went through empty nest really bad and I made a lot of mistakes. I won’t deny it. I got my feelings hurt very easily. My daughters and I used to be extremely close. I would sleep the top bunk with my 2 little granddaughters or my grandson or they would come and stay with me same with my other daughters kids. They needed me or wanted me I was there. My daughter called and said they needed me I jumped in the car and was there. Well when my son in law got mad at me I wasn’t allowed in the home. He went too years not talking to me or having anything to do with me. I kept hearing from the grandkids that their mom was bad mouthing me and I am pretty sure she did it to my other daughters kids. We moved too much when they were growing up, I didn’t do this. I should have done that, they never heard anything good. Now they compare me to the stepmom all the time, they go over to their house all the time and spend time with them and they have been to my maybe 3 times in 2 years. I live closer than their Dad. When my granddaughter had her twins, I wasn’t allowed to go see them until they decided it was okay, and they were born at the beginning of Covid so I tried to be understanding although I am a nurse. One day I saw their Dad and his wife and I had a feeling they had been allowed to see the babies so I just asked her, have you got to see the babies and she said yes, then it was like oops, she wasn’t supposed to tell me. About a week later my daughter asked me if I wanted to go see them. On the way she made a point to talk about when her dad and stepmom saw them because her stepmom told her that she let it slip. I just acted like it was no big deal, trying to keep the peace. Well I have hardly got to see them in their 2 years. They have never been to my home. I started working as a travel nurse and worked in Iowa for 4 1/2 months, my granddaughter graduated from college and I drove almost 700 miles to come home for her graduation party, which my daughter and her stepmom planned. The whole time I was home 1 week I got to see them one time at that party and they made no effort to spend any other time with me. When I finished in Iowa I requested my next contract to be as close to how as possible, I want so badly to bond with my great grand babies. It’s a 300 mile drive for me to come hone and I try to make it home at least every other weekend. This weekend was the twins 2 nd birthday party. Yes, stepmom/grandma is right in the middle of everything. Thinks she can boss me around. The boys won’t hardly come to me because they hardly know me, I have tried to go see them but there is always an excuse whey they won’t be there. Way back when they were still babies I offered to keep them when she went to class and my daughter told me I couldn’t handle them, I am a 34 year seasoned nurse that has taken care of gobs of kids and was a private nurse to a very fragile baby boy after I saved his life and she says I can’t handle them. When I went with her to see them the first time she kept telling me I wasn’t holding them right, I wasn’t feeding them right, I didn’t change their diaper right. I couldn’t do anything right. I am always wrong no matter what I say and I have gotten to the point that I am so uncomfortable and feel so inadequate when I am around them, my own daughter, who I would walk through fire for. I just am so distressed over all of this. I don’t know how to handle it, what is the right thing to do. She also started comparing my son with her other little brother and my daughter in law with her other little brothers wife, always make them out to be better than my son and his wife. Her other little brother also has kids and now she is starting to do the same thing with my son’s little boy. It’s so unfair. Help!!! Tell me what I am doing wrong or how you all would handle this situation, it is way too much drama for me and now I have gotten to the point that I really resent their stepmom! I’m sorry for writing a book but I am beside myself, I don’t know what to do, I want to do what is right. I don’t want to make things worse. Thank you again for listening.

agnurse Mon 14-Feb-22 00:55:00

Your AC's relationships with their father and stepmother are none of your business. Grandparenting is not a competition.

Accept what you get and don't compare the situation.

Hithere Mon 14-Feb-22 01:42:11

Sadly, your skills and experience as a nurse has nothing to do with this, please do not use this to justify how you were able to take care of your daughter's kids

This reads as a competition between you and the stepmother.

However your AC get to make the decisions on their own.

What kind of bond you expect to have your your great grand children?
You are two steps removed from the core family and a shaky background

Focus on your relationships with your AC.
Nobody else matters, including stepmother.

Hithere Mon 14-Feb-22 01:42:29

Why did your sil get mad at you?

Peasblossom Mon 14-Feb-22 08:33:00

You seem to be carrying a lot of resentment from the past that isn’t relevant to your grandchildren. It’s probably makes them reluctant to have you involved with their children.

I think you desperately need some professional help.

Charleygirl5 Mon 14-Feb-22 09:39:09

I am sorry but I cannot read this as there are no paragraphs and I am partially sighted so can not help.

Blossoming Mon 14-Feb-22 09:52:56

Sorry, but I can’t work out these time scales and relationships at all. You say you are 34 and you had your daughters when you were 19 and 28, but your granddaughter has just graduated from college.

I think you will have to make an effort to let bygones be bygones and build a relationship with your daughters.

MayBeMaw Mon 14-Feb-22 10:30:04

I hope you feel better for letting off steam, but it seems to me that your jealousy of the other granny is at the root of your problem and only you can address that.

Madgran77 Mon 14-Feb-22 16:17:35

Mytwogreatgrands I am sorry that you are so distressed about this situation.

You have given a long historical account of what has happened over the years. I know that this was to try and give context. However to be honest it is very confusing trying to work out all the different things and events.

I think it would be helpful to put aside all the historical stuff and just look at what the situation is for you NOW! My understanding is that the key points NOW are :

* I am always wrong no matter what I say and I have gotten to the point that I am so uncomfortable and feel so inadequate when I am around them*

she kept telling me I wasn’t holding them right, I wasn’t feeding them right, I didn’t change their diaper right. I couldn’t do anything right

stepmom/grandma is right in the middle of everything. Thinks she can boss me around

She also started comparing my son with her other little brother and my daughter in law with her other little brothers wife, always make them out to be better than my son and his wife. Her other little brother also has kids and now she is starting to do the same thing with my son’s little boy. It’s so unfair (I think you are referring to your daughter here? Is that correct?)

I have gotten to the point that I really resent their stepmom

I think that you need to :

a) take your focus completely off the stepmum.

b)Make your focus totally on your relationship with your daughter

- can you visit and ask if you and she could sit down and have a chat?
- don't mention step mum and dad.
- say that you feel there is a problem, that you feel she is unhappy with you. Ask her if that is the case and then just listen. Don't justify, make excuses etc just listen. If you really listen you might be able to work out what the problem is that lies behind this situation
- depending on her response you might say that you need a bit of time to think things over after hearing her perspective. - Or you might apologise for anything, as appropriate. It depends what she says
- think about why your SIL got angry with you; is THAT the real cause of the problem? Is that why your relationship with your daughter so difficult? Was there justification in his anger? What did you do? Only you can know the answer to those questions; be honest with yourself and try to look at what happened from the perspective of your SIL/Daugher if that is appropriate
-ask her what would work best for her in terms of you meeting up - you coming to hers, her coming to you, taking turns?
- don't ask about looking after the kids at the moment, that could only have any chance of developing IF you can improve your relationship with your daughter (and SIL) . That is the key to possibly finding a solution to your situation

Good luck flowers

welbeck Mon 14-Feb-22 16:55:05

i'm a bit concerned at the muddled way you write this.
that you are a nurse. hope you are clearer in reading instructions re dosages and care plans.
i has assumed you had little education from the way it is written. some people don't get the chance of education.
but you must be a qualified person.
so all this muddle, i guess, comes from psychological issues.
can you access any counselling or peer to peer support, maybe through your professional body ?
as others have said, you need live in the present moment.
that's all any of us have.
how about imagining you have amnesia. deal with what is in front of you. then do the next thing. calmly. and rest.
i wish you well.

jeanie99 Thu 24-Mar-22 01:26:13

I was very confused reading your writing. Years clearly have passed but you are referring to the past as if yesterday which I don't think is healthy carrying all this anger.
You seem to focus on the negatives you find in family life and this will bring you down and depress you if you allow it.
Family is very important, I love my children and grandchildren but I have a life outside of the family circle and I would recommend you looking into making one for yourself.

BlueBelle Thu 24-Mar-22 04:48:45

That was a very long and very muddled read a lot of it I can t really work out
How old are you now?
You sound very very over invested in all these children grandchildren and great grandchildren
Do you have a life outside your job and your family ?
I think you should get some counselling to try and unravel this long story I don’t think it’s anything we can help you with it’s far too complicated like a ball of wool all knotted up and muddled and needs completely unravelling by a very qualified person

BlueBalou Thu 24-Mar-22 05:43:57

I too cannot quite work this out but I would suggest you step right back and let them do whatever they wish, they’re adults.
It does sound as if you perhaps need to focus on having other interests in your life, it really doesn’t sound healthy having this level of fixation on what others do or say or what happened presumably many years ago.

PECS Thu 24-Mar-22 07:42:53

Lots of " natural 'co grannies' are competitive so the fact there is a step gran really makes little difference.
Focus on your daughters & son, enjoy their families when you can . You say you are pro life.. does that also involve being thankful for the life you & your family have?
Do not allow what your family do with, or feel about, other relatives stop you having healthy & loving relationships with your kids & their offspring.
Once comparisons & competition get going in these family dynamics unhappiness follows!

MerylStreep Thu 24-Mar-22 07:50:47

I doubt if the OP is still reading. Although it’s not an old post the OP never acknowledged the earlier replies.

Caleo Thu 24-Mar-22 12:57:08

MyTwoGreatGrands, past events can leave a sense of loss and failure no matter what sort of life you have had.

The bottom line is : the time has come for you to look after yourself and your feeling of being well. You can't change how your relations and ex-relations behave towards you, so stop worrying about them. You should congratulate yourself that you held down a good job as a nurse, and you have also been an affectionate attentive mother and grandmother.

Give your grandchildren and great grand children a chance to know you as a reasonably contented old woman who is easy to get along with and who they loved.

Do not obsess about scratchy relations just leave them alone.

Learn to write in paragraphs then you will handle your thoughts better.

Redhead56 Thu 24-Mar-22 17:22:54

It's not often I am stuck for words but here goes. Nobody tells us how to be a parent we learn from our own good and bad parenting. You do the best you can and your children know they are loved and secure.
Grandchildren are different they are brought up usually by their parents. Grans and grandad's have little involvement with upbringing.
Why are you so involved with the step grandma you don't need to be.
Enjoy your grandchildren when you see them and don't play mind games it's not worth the stress. Move on and appreciate the grandchildren they soon grow up.