DEAR DEIDRE IT feels like my husband is going to explode because of the tension between him and my son.
I’m 42 and this is the second marriage for both of us after being divorced. My husband is 45 and not my 17-year-old son’s father.
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He says my son disrespects him and doesn’t clean up his mess.
My son, in fact, is polite and quite neat in the house, which is mine.
I know my husband is doing his best but we’re bickering.
If I try to tell him how I feel he flies off the handle.
He loses his rag over minor things and he sometimes says I’m bullying him, but I’m not.
My husband says he’s going to leave unless my son starts to respect him.
DEIDRE SAYS: Your husband sounds like he is feeling threatened and disempowered.
Healthy teenage males often wind up their own fathers and you’ve got the added stresses that your husband is his stepdad and it’s not his house either.
All three of you need to sit down calmly and agree house rules – clearing up after yourselves, no raised voices.
Read my e-leaflet on Stepfamily Pressures.
