My husband and I have been married for almost 9 years. We have had his children from his first marriage faithfully every other weekend. Last night, we got a phone call from the oldest. She wanted to know if when they come this weekend they can bring their other siblings. The other siblings are her mom and step dads – a boy age 7 and a girl age 5. I don’t really care, but isn’t it odd for their mother to want to send her other kids to her ex’s house?
Our kids are a boy age 8, a girl age 7 and a girl age 3. My kids all know the other two kids. They have played together at birthday parties, and have interacted when the oldest girls are dropped off and picked up. This past summer when I picked up my step-daughters for my sons birthday, the siblings asked if they could come to my son’s birthday party. I said it was ok with me, as it was a party at a park and it was only for a few hours.
My step daughters have a good relationship with my kids, when they are here, they often talk about their other siblings, so my kids feel like they know them fairly well. I am sure when they are at home they talk about my kids, so maybe their other siblings feel they know my kids fairly well, too. I think its great that they all get along. In the future this will be helpful for graduations and weddings, etc.
I just don’t think I could send my kids to spend the night let alone the weekend at my husbands ex-wife’s house. Is this odd?
Again, I am not opposed to having them stay over. I just wanted to know if I was alone in feeling weirded out by this.
I bet the half siblings are begging to be allowed to go to your house for the weekend.
Look at it this way: Every other weekend they watch their older siblings go spend a fun weekend somewhere they hardly ever get to go. Of course they want to be included. They are just kids and don’t care who divorced who, they just want to go where their siblings go.
I remember being a kid and dying to go to my step-brother’s grandma’s house because he always talked about how much fun he had there.
I’m not a divorced parent; I am a child of divorced parents, and I had the following thought.
If I understand you correctly, it wasn’t the mother that asked this directly, but one of the children?
Could it be, simply, that the two sets of children – your stepkids and their step-siblings – are getting along well, and just want to have fun together? It could simply be very similar to your kids wanting to have their friends sleep over. Particularly, look for – do you have some activity at your house they don’t at theirs: a video game system, an indoor swimming pool, board game night, whatever – that the kids would all find fun?
That’s likely all it is – some sibling bonding.
On preview, I see that I type too slowly, and that In Conceivable has had a similar idea. Consider it.
It was one of the children that asked last night.
I am not opposed to having my stepkids siblings stay over. I just think its odd that their mother, my husbands ex wife would be ok with having them stay for the whole weekend.
We do have fun here. On Saturday, we are having a small birthday party for my middle daughter- she turned 7 on Tuesday. My husbands sisters kids will be here as well-- we will have all kinds of kids running around here. Generally we rent movies and have popcorn and movie night one of the nights the girls are here. We have a playstation2, a playstation, a nintendo64 and tons of computer games, an empty hot tub that I wouldn’t let the kids play in anyway but I guess I never saw that as a big draw to here. Two weekends ago the girls brought friends over for the weekend, so maybe it is.
My dad died when I was a kid, and I was either carted around to spend time with the Old Family Relatives (60s -90’s) or my cousins ( all my age.) I always and ever time wanted to be at my cousins house.
Sounds like fun. Now I want to come spend the weekend with you too!
I don’t think it is odd that there mother is okay with it. The other two kids stay with you all the time. If you take good care of the oldest two and the youngest two are begging to go I don’t know why she would have a problem with it. It just sounds like you all have a pretty good, trusting relationship.
hmm. I have a step-son, he has 2 siblings at his mom’s… I can guarantee that if he wanted to bring his brother & sister along, it would be because his mom wants a weekend off without kids and without having to get a babysitter. She would have step-son ask because she knows DH won’t refuse him…
