I’m Claire, and living in a blended family is usually a balancing act, but today the scale completely tipped. My husband has two sons from his previous marriage who simply cannot get along. They fight constantly, and my 15-year-old daughter usually just tries to stay out of the crossfire.
Today, after yet another massive explosion between the boys, my husband snapped. Out of nowhere, he announced that the solution to the fighting was to move one of his sons into my daughter’s bedroom. I was floored. I told him immediately, “That is not appropriate! She’s fifteen!”
Instead of listening, he got this look in his eye I’ve never seen and barked, “I’m the man of this house, I decide!”
I was ready to scream, but before I could, something unexpected happened. My stepson—the very one being moved—looked his father dead in the eye and said he would never share a room with my daughter. My husband froze. You could actually see the doubt hit him when his own son refused to go along with his “authority.”
I’m proud of my stepson for having more common sense and respect than his father, but I’m terrified. Hearing my husband claim he has absolute power over my daughter’s privacy just because he’s “the man” has changed how I see him. I don’t know how we move forward from this.
