Reddit Stories - Spouse DECLINED to allow my ADOLESCENT girl return to our RESIDENCE as she
Episode Date: February 12, 2026#redditstories #askreddit #aita #parenting #familydrama #teenissues #relationshipadvice #divorceSummary: A spouse refuses to let their adolescent daughter return home, causing tension and conflict wit...hin the family. The situation raises questions about parenting decisions, communication, and the impact on the child's well-being. The dilemma highlights the challenges faced by families navigating difficult circumstances and differing opinions.Tags: redditstories, askreddit, reddit, aita, tifu, parenting, familyissues, adolescence, relationshipproblems, custody, communication, emotionalhealth, familyconflict, divorce, teenageproblems, support, advice, mentalhealth, familydynamics, conflictresolution, homeenvironmentBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/reddit-stories--6816713/support.This episode includes AI-generated content.
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I hope you enjoy this story.
Spouse declined to allow my adolescent girl return to our residence as she is not genuine kin.
Following our disagreement, she confessed to feeling envious of my daughter.
Anna is aged 16.
She was an accident when I was 24.
Anna's mother and I were never together as a couple because it was a one-night stand,
but we have maintained a friendly and healthy co-parenting since she was born and we became good friends.
My daughters has been living on another continent for a few years with her mother and stepfather.
But she wants to come back because she doesn't feel comfortable there and misses her family and friends,
Anna doesn't knows their language well and it's still hard for her to learn it fully so she feels really lonely there since it is different to speak your native language than to make friends by speaking a foreign language from zero.
I spoke with my daughter's mother and we thought it was a good idea to let Anna live with me.
her room is now my home office, but I can easily put together a room for her again.
We didn't confirm anything, I talked to my wife about it first and I was sure that she was
going to be okay with that because we literally talked about that possibility before.
The problem is that my wife doesn't want that to happen.
My wife and Anna have never been close because they only meet in person for our wedding
when I was able to pay a ticket for my daughter to come.
That was the last time I saw my daughter in person too, plain tickets are too expensive.
but they do tend to talk a little bit when I make video calls with Anna every day but not too much.
Anna also talks to her brother and he likes her a lot even if they just see each other in video call.
My wife says Anna is not going to feel comfortable in a house with strangers and I told her that we are
literally her family and she said no, she and our toddler are not Anna's family because they barely
knows her in person. It honestly hurts me that she thinks that way but I understand her point of view.
Although our toddler is Anna's brother and it really annoyed me that she said that because our little one really loves his sister even if they just see each other online.
I had an argument with my wife about it and I ended up telling her that my daughter will always come first of all, because it's true, for me my children will always come before any other person and she knew very well about my daughter when we married.
My wife got angry and said that bringing Anna home would change how we handle ourselves and that she doesn't want to be a stepmother.
She said that Anna lived with her mother in another continent so it's not the same as having her right here every day.
I told her that no one is asking her to be a stepmother because I will be the one who take care of her as always.
My daughter used to stay many days and even months with me and I was the one who took care of her.
I'm not going to give my wife all the work because I was a single father for a long time and I know how to take care of my daughter.
I work, I clean, I cook. I take full care of our son when she's,
works and wants to go out and do something just like she does with me. We both support each other
in raising our son, I don't know why many people is so shocked about the fact that I take
responsibility dot of my own child. But that if she doesn't respect my daughter's presence in the
house and hates it that much then she is all the freedom to go to a hotel room. I was a big
idiot because those words obviously ended up really bad and we had a worse argument. My daughter
has every right to live in my house if she wants but my wife doesn't want.
wants that. I really love my wife, but my biggest focus is to give the best to my children
and I would love to have my princess here after years. My wife hasn't been talking to me at all
and she's very angry, but she does continue with the same stance that she doesn't want Anna here
at all and I know I will get angry and we will end up arguing again because I'm not going
to leave my daughter alone at it. My wife always knew that Anna lived with me several days a week
when she was still in the country because I talked with her about that and the possibility of Anna's
family returning to the country if things went wrong. That would have meant that Anna would come
back to live with me for many days or even months like she always did. My daughter used to come at my house
every day too. My wife agreed with that years ago when we talked about that, but now admits that
she thought my daughter was going to stay out of the country with her mother because their business
is going really well. Throw a because my daughter uses Reddit too.
I changed some data to not make it too obvious.
Edit 2, guys, I've been reading the comments nonstop for two hours and I have too much to think about.
Thank you very much for the advice, whether bad or good this is helping me to reflect on several things that I did not take into account.
But please don't be so harsh because I'm a real person Haha relevant comments where OP has replied the discussion with his wife.
We had it because she knows that my daughter used to stay in my home before she left.
left the country. My wife says that in her mind my daughter was always going to live with her mother.
To another commenter, she didn't say that when we got married, she said it now. When I told her
about that possibility years ago, she just said she was okay with it. Now she admits that she
thought Anna would stay there. Commenter, if she doesn't change her mind, do you see your marriage
lasting? Oh, okay, to he honest? No, not at all. Even if I love
love my wife, my daughter no longer feels welcome in her school or comfortable. I don't want her to
feel that way here to comment her. What are you going to do about the child that you guys share?
Oh, okay, my son would never be homeless. Being okay with my wife would be the ideal plan.
But if she continues to reject my daughter's presence and we break up, I'm going to make sure I
pay her and our son a good place to stay and go for 50 to 50 custody like I had with Anna
or make some kind of cohabitation agreement.
I'm going to do the same thing with my son that I did with my daughter,
which was go see her every day and take care of her,
I wouldn't fight with my wife or stress our son out with grown-up stuff.
Commenter, not picking sides here.
But if your wife leaves so does your son.
Everyone is screaming, put your child first.
You may have your daughter full time and your son 50 to 50.
Doubt they would take a toddler away from a woman you say is a wonderful,
mother. I think the rock and the hard place is a lot harder than you think. Oh, op. Yes,
I've been thinking about that too. Co-parenting with Anna's mother has always been really easy because
we've always been good friends and there was never a fight. But I don't want to think that if I
divorce my wife or we break up because of this, I'll have a harder time seeing my son or how the
co-parenting would be with her. Update 1, May 15th, 2024. I'm sorry but I decided to delete the post
because a weirdo started to just spam my private messages with different accounts and I don't know if I
can put the account on private or something like that. I don't use this site too much but a bot started
sending me messages asking if I needed help so I think my account could get banned because of that
person doing this and I'm too old for this so I just rather post the update here where I can at least
close the comments. Guess the post will be here if someone cares. First of all, I want to clarify
that I am from a third world country. Here it is really expensive to get a plane ticket and if I
travel I must do it with my wife and our son too so it is too much money that we cannot pay. I let
my daughter's mother take her to another country because like every father, I want her to have
better life opportunities. I don't think that makes me a bad father, but I guess the minds
that have always lived and privilege don't understand.
The last time I could afford some tickets was for my daughter to come to the wedding.
Not all of us have the privilege of paying for a plain flight.
I've been thinking a lot and in fact I'm the odd because of the way I treated my wife.
Even if most of the comments agreed with me, I don't think it was right to say that to the woman
I love even though I was angry.
I apologize to her for what I said and the way I said it but I told her that I don't like it
when she ignores me and gives me the cold shoulder when I try to talk about our issues
and the fact that she denied the familiarity between our son and daughter was just cruel.
She apologized for it and said she was angry and said things she regret.
I made it clear to her that Anna is coming because no one can forbid any of my children to live
with me, not only morally but legally I am totally obligated to give my daughter and son a house.
She tried to argue but I asked her how she would feel if we divorced and my new girlfriend
refuses to let our son live with me just because she didn't sign up for it.
I asked her if she would appreciate a man who abandons his children for a woman more than a man
who cares about his children.
If she would feel confident knowing that she is married to a man who abandons his children
that easily.
My wife said no, that obviously she knows how much I care about our children and hates
the kind of man's who abandons their kids, that she knew she wanted to have a child with me
because she saw how even though my daughter was so far away I made video calls to her every day
and we always help each other with things around the house.
Then I asked her why she rejects the idea of my daughter being here and she admitted being jealous
of Anna, it is something that I have noticed in the past.
For example, for one of my daughter's birthday I sent money to her mother to buy her address
that was quite expensive and my wife just said, I guess you will buy our son something just as
expensive it was my mistake to let those comments pass and think they were just a weird joke.
She said that she doesn't want my daughter to come and took time away from our son.
That bothered me and I told her that if we had two children my time would also be divided
and that as a father I can give the same attention to both.
Changing our routine doesn't have to be a negative thing and she knows that Anna is not a problem teenager.
We talked a lot and I explained to her that I just want to make everything work for both of us.
I apologized if I made her feel bad with the way I treated her and I told her that I want to really hear what things are
her so we can understand each other better. We agreed to have better dialogue and communication
about this kind of things. My wife admitted that her jealousy is wrong and feels embarrassed
about it, but it's how she feels and she feels awful for feeling like that. I told her that
feeling isn't right, being jealous of my daughter isn't right and I told her that it would be okay
to start going to the psychologist if we want to fix this because I'm not going to leave my
daughter live in a place where she doesn't feel loved. My wife accepted after talking about her
it a lot these days and she wants to work on herself about that because doesn't like feeling like
that about a little girl and knows it's wrong. My wife and daughter always had a nice treatment.
When I make video calls with Anna, my wife usually talks a little but not that much. I think my
mistake was not offering my wife to make video calls alone with Anna like Anna does with my toddler
sometimes. My daughter really likes my wife and calls her auntie even if they don't know each other
too well, so I don't want her to know how my wife really feels about her. I offered my wife to
teach her how to play the same video game I play with my daughter so they can play together and get
to know each other more. I know Anna would love that. They both have a lot of same interests,
she accepted and said she loves me and wants to try it for me and for our toddler. If I leave my
wife I would be breaking my son's house. He's my baby too and the last thing I want is letting
adult matters affect him. I don't want to do that and I love this woman. I want this to work and I'm
going to do my part for it but the first moment she treats my daughter badly, I will end things with her
and I clarified that to her and she was right with that and promised me to work on this.
I still haven't confirmed anything to Anna's mother about the date on which our daughter can come
since I need to fix the room for her first and I want my wife and little girl to get to know each other
better, talking about it with my psychologist. He told me that the best thing is always to get them
closer little by little before Anna comes to live here. This last four days my wife and Anna have
been talking longer and I told Anna that we could teach my wife how to play with us. Anna feels really
comfortable talking with my wife and they started talking about random things which I feel out of
because I don't understand about the things they talk about. But I'm pretty glad to see that they
actually have things to talk about. I suppose a lot of people are going to call me an idiot for
not divorcing my wife because that was what most of the comments told me. But it's not all that
simple as yeah, we argued so let's get divorced in a 50-50th custody and I personally think it's
been better for us to have spoken up like mature people instead of just getting divorced,
seeing that my wife has opened up to me and is trying to work things out. I prefer to give this
a second chance and hope that she can see my daughter as her friend and even as her family,
if she allows it to herself.
Your wife is going to treat your daughter badly.
No one can read the future to say that,
but I can work to make that future not happen.
In the meantime, I prefer to maintain a positive approach
since my wife has never behaved badly with my daughter,
and my daughter knows that if she feels uncomfortable,
she knows she can talk about it with her mom, stepdad,
or me as we always teach her to talk to us about anything that makes her uncomfortable.
Anna has a sharp tongue, so I doubt she'll stay quiet
if my wife makes any comments that make her uncomfortable.
I'm not going to force them to be best friends,
I want them both to flow on their own.
I'm also not going to use my daughter as a free babysitter
as many in the comments suggested as a supposed solution
and both she and her brother can live in this house as long as they want.
Edit
In the previous post several people said that my wife also made a post here, but it's false.
She doesn't use this site edit too, I don't understand why,
but I've been getting a lot of notifications from that bot from a redditor who thinks I need help and private spam messages from different accounts created literally today.
I really don't know who's doing this and I don't understand what's the fun of annoying like that, just block me.
Relevant comments where Op has replied, commenter, if your wife doesn't get over her jealousy though, you're going to have to make a choice.
Hopefully, since she took ownership of how awful what she said slash did was, she'll become better.
Oop, yes, I have made it clear to my wife that my decision will always be to protect my children from any person or situation so if her jealousy returns, there will be no third chance.
Commenter, do you plan on leaving your daughter alone with your wife?
Oop, for now they have video calls with me, if my daughter wants to have video calls only with my wife, then they will have video calls alone.
My daughter is smart and has a sharp tongue, if she feels uncomfortable with anything my wife does she will tell me or
her mother or stepfather about it.
Commenter, I meant when she comes to stay with you, would you feel comfortable with leaving
your wife alone with your daughter?
Oop, if my wife continues to improve her behavior and continues to be open to having a close
relationship with my daughter, yes, the ideal is that as I said in the post.
That is precisely the reason why they are making video calls together, so that not only me
but also that they feel comfortable with each other when they live together.
Comment her, just because she's okay doing video calls with your daughter and being nice to her,
doesn't mean she's going to be the same when your daughter is in her home, especially when she doesn't
want her there.
Boop, and it doesn't mean she'll treat her badly, either.
Neither you nor I know the future and we could assume all night about what will happen,
I prefer to think about the best for all the members of my family and trust that my wife wants
to improve for herself and others with professional help.
wife needs to know she can talk to you if she's uncomfortable.
This probably won't end well.
Oop, my wife knows she can talk to me about whatever she wants, as I said in the post,
she has opened up to me about what she really thinks and we've been having a sincere dialogue.
Update 2, June 23rd, 2024.
I didn't really think about updating again, but I remembered that I have the account and I thought why not.
since I have free time in this moment while I take care of my toddler.
My daughter and my wife's relationship is going very well,
they both make video calls to watch some series together that they both like.
They have even started to have inside jokes that I don't understand,
but I think that's something good although to be honest now I feel a little left out, just joking.
My wife has been going to the psychologist, and me too,
I want both of us to get better together, to work on her insecurities and problems
because she knows that feeling jealous of my daughter is not good at all, and a few weeks ago
she talked to my daughter about her feelings towards her and apologized.
My daughter was quite surprised to learn that my wife felt this way but accepted the apology
and told her that she understands her.
I left them talking alone that day so they have privacy and after that they have had a closer
bond.
My wife said that my daughter told her that she will always respect someone who is sincere and
wants to be a better person.
In the previous post many said that I decided to bring my daughter without talking about it with my wife before but that's literally what I did.
I never confirmed anything to the mother of my daughter until I spoke with my wife, I was never the partner of my daughter's mother, BTW.
Many comments mentioned her as my ex-wife, but we were never anything.
The talk about bringing my daughter back was paused because I wanted them to know each other better before living altogether,
but my wife started to talk about how she wants to decorate the bedroom and rejected all my ideas
because they're too boring for a girl so she's having fun redecorating the room with our toddler
who's really happy to see his sister in person. We still didn't arrange the date because my daughter's
mother have to talk with her high school for the problems there and everything and I have to
prepare everything here too but all is going well step by step. Update 3 New Update 7th,
September 12, 2024.
Hello, I just wanted to have one last update before deleting the account since I don't see the point of continuing to have it.
Ha ha my daughter has been living with us for weeks now, my wife and she get along well.
Her little brother adores her and they can finally spend time together in person he's really excited to have her home now.
My wife has been working a lot on herself and I have noticed how much she changed in a good way and how her relationship with my daughter is good,
I noticed it especially when we went to pick up my daughter at the airport and my wife was very excited to see her.
They had been watching movies together online for months.
She is no longer jealous of my daughter and although it is a process that takes time, I know that she is making an effort.
My daughter has not started school here so she will have to wait until next year.
Anyway, we decided to bring her now since in a few months the tickets will be much more expensive.
It was my wife the one who told me that and that she felt ready to.
to spend time in person with her. I was really happy to hear her say that, I didn't expect
her to already feel ready to tell me that. My daughter lived in a country in Asia, although
it was a really beautiful and safe country. It was very difficult for her to adapt and their
bullying is something very serious, much more so towards her who had so much difficulty with
the language. Sometimes she obviously misses her mom but they text a lot, I try to spend as much time
as I can with her so that she doesn't miss her mother and stepfather too much.
I also take her to see our relatives and she has met my wife's family as well.
But in general I know that she feels happy here and she has told me that she missed her grandparents,
uncles and cousins.
The whole family is very happy that she is back here.
My wife and I are doing great.
And I've also worked on myself by going to therapy, now we talk a lot whenever something bothers us
or we have some discontent.
I think the key is that we can communicate even if they are dark thoughts.
I know that she is a good person and like everyone,
she has dark thoughts but she is a good person
because she works on improving herself and I'm doing that too.
I love her and I know she's a good mother who wouldn't treat my daughter badly.
I like to take care of our children, take care of them,
clean and cook for them although sometimes I find it hard to understand
that my daughter now does all that by herself and I don't have to do it,
ha ha but she is still small in my eyes just like her brother.
Anyway, I'm sorry if it's a boring update and everyone expected me to divorce my wife,
but things are like this smile.
Luckily we are starting to solve our problems.
They now have a relationship of friends and I like that if they are happy like that.
