differences

Being a pseudo-step-parent is hard. And for me it's only every other weekend. Except during soccer season, which we generally skip altogether now. I'm having a lot of frustration on that front. It's such a common thing today to have blended families, it's not like I'm doing anything exceptional. But it really is tough, it'd be a lot easier to raise another person's child full-time than to do it this way. This way you constantly have to worry about possible repercussions of every action(Is her mother going to get upset that I don't let her watch her music videos around here? I didn't let her eat the yogurt because it has to last my kids all week long-will she tell her Mom that I don't let her eat our food?) I have to second-guess every decision. Was I being fair(make sure I don't side only with my own kids, or only with her. Which is made more difficult by their age difference) ? It's mainly this past year that the problems have really been surfacing. I guess as a result of Maree doing some growing up. It doesn't help that her mother and I have very different child-rearing philosophies. Her mother thinks you should let the child confront all life's nasty realities up front(for example, she takes Maree to see the junkie laying on the street corner to tell her this is not what you want for yourself). I think the longer you stay a kid, the happier you are. (I would never go out of my way to take her to see something like that. If the issue comes up on its own, fine, we deal with it. But I think kids are happier ignorant of things like that, until life presents the issue.) This makes it hard to discuss with her why I think it's inappropriate for my kids to be learning to sing and dance to "Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me." It's not that I want to change how she raises her daughter. I'm just afraid of it's consequences on my children.