Stepdaughter Sends Schedule to Dad - No Room for Dad on it!

Today my stepdaughter sent her dad her schedule this summer. No, not her work schedule. She doesn't have a job where she HAS to be there because her mother has put fear into her. My 16-year-old stepdaughter is afraid that if she works in a place where most teens work at her age (restaurant, babysitting, etc.) that she'll be molested or murdered. Seriously! I'm not teasing here AT ALL. She will only work where her mother works and that's it. Somebody forgot to tell the ex that the umbilical cord was cut almost 17 years ago!

It's her driver's training and band schedule. We'd already cleared it with her band teacher for her to miss but she "can't" miss any of it according to her. Driver's training - - well, I'd have her take that in November. Seriously, if she couldn't be bothered to take it anytime in the past two years, since she's been legally allowed to, she can wait a couple more months. I just love how the ex has instilled into the kids that dad's time with them is just so meaningless and that everything else comes first.

If my husband goes by my stepdaughter's schedule, he won't see his kids this summer. So, it'll be either put his foot down or let them have their way. I already know how it's going to go. I am just waiting for confirmation so I can tell my kids, who have been asking when they will see their older brother and older sister this summer, that they won't be. I LOVE how the ex and my stepkids get to control all that and I am the one who has to dry my kids' tears. I really hate this crap!

You know, why is it that the stepkids get coddled like this but my kids get hurt? Let's not disappoint the stepkids by enforcing visitation but let's disappoint the rest of our kids. I think my husband should have to be the one to explain to our kids why their siblings aren't coming over.

Sometimes I get really fed up with this situation. It was better when the kids were younger and weren't active participants in their mother's manipulations. It's getting hard not to place some of the blame on these two teenagers who don't seem to care about anybody else but keeping mommie dearest happy.