A Letter From a Reader
Dear Mel,
About six months ago, I got married again to a lovely man. He’s very good to me and is keen to know everything about becoming a stepfather. The trouble is, he has no children, and he doesn’t seem to know how to cope with my teenage daughter who lives with us. He complains that she doesn’t say good morning to him at breakfast (actually she doesn’t say much at all), and she feels criticized by her stepfather because he seems to expect her to do her homework the minute she gets in.
Her dad and I divorced five or six years ago because of his continuing adultery and drinking. Now he lives with a stepfamily though that marriage now looks dodgy. It all had a terrible effect on my two girls – one went completely off the rails – and they don’t get along with their new stepmother. As a result, they don’t see much of their dad.
Which is why I’m so desperate to make a good home for them here. But as I say, my husband and daughter seem to rub each other the wrong way. Which is surprising, considering he’s a teacher, and she’s only thirteen, nearly fourteen and she’s quite young for her age.
