Mom gets jealous that 16-year-old son spends more time with his dad than with her, demands he participate in family traditions with half-siblings, son refuses: ‘I left mom's house’

Author image for Bar Mor Hazut
Bar Mor Hazut • Senior Editor
Aug 31, 2025 3:00 PM EDT

Dealing with divorced parents is hard enough; no parent should add more stress on their kids' shoulders by making them feel like they constantly have to choose between them.

Is that what the mom in the story below is trying to do? Let's break it down.

This 16-year-old son's parents got divorced when he was only two years old. Now he is splitting his time between his mom's house and his dad's house, but he has no trouble admitting that he would rather be at his dad's. All because of his mom's new husband. Due to a complicated family history, the teenager and the stepdad do not like each other, which makes the teenager uncomfortable every time he is there. But that doesn't stop the mom from feeling jealous every time she learns her son is enjoying his time when he is with his actual dad. 

Now, she is trying to convince her son to spend more time with her family, specifically with his step-siblings. The son, on the other side, refuses to give in to the pressure…

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10547782656
    via svetikd

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • 02

    AITA for not starting any traditions with my step and half siblings like my mom wants me to?

    My parents divorced when I (16M) was 2. I spend the same time at both houses, 7 days and 7 days.
    via Keeniannon
  • 03
    At dad's house it's us and my paternal grandparents. At mom's house now it's mom, her husband since I was 7, stepbrother who's 6 years younger than me and two half siblings who are 9 and 11 years younger than me.
    via Keeniannon
  • 04
    I don't like my mom's husband which is why I call him that instead of my stepdad. There's drama there but I need to explain that background first.
    via Keeniannon
  • 05
    So my dad got my mom's husband fired years ago. Like so many years ago that it was before my mom met her husband.
    via Keeniannon
  • 06
    They were work rivals and mom's husband sabotaged a project dad was working on and dad reported it and other stuff he knew about mom's husband which led to him losing his job.
    via Keeniannon
  • 07
    IDK what the other stuff was. But my mom's husband hated that from that point and when mom started dating him and he found out dad was my dad he was extra petty about it.
    via Keeniannon
  • 08
    He used to ask me if I realized my dad was a snake and what it was like having a snitch for a dad.
    via Keeniannon
  • 09
    He told me he'd teach me the ways of the world better than dad could. And he'd try to make me go to him over dad in public settings.
    via Keeniannon
  • 10
    Like if they were all there for one of my school plays or something. I never went to mom's husband before my dad and it really annoyed him so he said more sh my dad. about
    via Keeniannon
  • 11
    I never liked having her husband around and even though my mom sees his son as her son now because she raised him and is the only mom he knows, I never saw him as my brother.
    via Keeniannon
  • 12
    And when they had my half siblings | never felt super attached or close to them. I don't hate any of them. But I don't care that we're not super close either.
    via Keeniannon
  • 13
    My mom tried to make it happen by taking us to do fun stuff together and she set up little traditions for us as siblings but I just went along with it because, it was never like important to me.
    via Keeniannon
  • 14
    Dad's house was different because I loved our little family. Living with him and my grandparents is the best. They all made it a priority to teach me stuff like how to cook, bake, sew, do DIY stuff and all kinds of things.
    via Keeniannon
  • 15
    We have our own little traditions too. For our birthdays the other three bake loads of treats and cook their favorite three meals that day. We have a cartoon movie night every Friday I'm there.
    via Keeniannon
  • 16
    I help grandma meal prep Sundays and it's very much an us thing and a tradition at this point. We use her label maker and we cook and bake for a few hours.
    via Keeniannon
  • 17
    Me and grandpa have been fixing up the old shed at the back of our house for a few months now and we do stuff like that, take on projects together. There's other things too.
    via Keeniannon
  • 18
    I never talk about that stuff at mom's house because I know her husband will have something to say about it and I was worried mom would try to copy that for me and my step and half siblings.
    via Keeniannon
  • 19
    My dad and I won a local cooking contest a couple of months ago. Mom saw it on social media and she started asking me when I learned to cook like that and why dad and I would enter something like that together.
    via Keeniannon
  • 20
    I told her we just did. She looked at the mini interview video and she asked why I never brought that stuff over to her house.
    via Keeniannon
  • 21
    Why I had traditions I enjoyed but didn't share them with my step and half siblings. Then she asked me to start up some with them because she knew I wasn't into anything she tried to start between us.
    via Keeniannon
  • 22
    And I didn't. She waited a month before bringing it up and I told her I didn't want to start any with them.
    via Keeniannon
  • 23
    She asked me why and she said it can be just me and them it doesn't need to involve her husband if he's the reason I won't.
    via Keeniannon
  • 24
    But she said she hates feeling like there's no relationship between me and them and she thinks starting something like this would be a good bonding experience.
    via Keeniannon
  • 25
    She said it could be as simple as me teaching them how to bake.
    via Keeniannon
  • 26
    I still didn't and before I left mom's house last week she told me she didn't know what to do about me anymore because I wasn't making any effort and all it would take is something small and a few hours a month.
    via Keeniannon
  • 27
    She told me starting traditions in families is important and I never treat my step and half siblings like we're a family.
    via Keeniannon
  • 28
    Cheezburger Image 10547783168
    via svetikd

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

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Tags

family drama aita jealous step siblings kids brother mother siblings parenting family stepdad women parents children Father
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