I have been a step mother for almost a year now and its definitely been tough but rewarding at the same time or at least when bio mom let's it be.

Bio mom and my boyfriend used to do 50/50, he is an amazing father and tries desperately to be part of her life as much as bio mom wants to claim single mother status and cut him out of their daughter's life. we used to live 5 minutes from each other and it was very convenient but once the school the school year ended she up and moved over 100km so she can have my step daughter during the week and we could have her 3 weekends a month if she felt we deserved to have her. This is where all the drama began.

To give a little bit of background bio mom lives with her friend,her friends husband,and her friends parents (4 other people total) and she makes about $3000 a month and receives government assistance for being a single mother ( anywhere from 200+ a month in canada)she doesnt pay rent and but it became the scenario where every weekend she needed something for my step daughter. Both my boyfriend and I live paycheck to paycheck and oftentimes struggle to meet these demands, we both work for a union that's been striking and have recieved little to nothing in strike pay.

Along with that we drive over 100+km every monday morning to bring her to school.Bio mom sends her with an outfit that is often times underdressed for example this weekend she was sent with a pair of leggings a tank top and a sherpa sweater. Keep in mind this in Canada so it's cold but if she were to get hot she wouldn't be able to take off the sweater because of the tank top so I allowed her to borrow a t shirt to wear underneath it just in case. Bio mom freaked out about this saying I didnt allow her to wear the tank top and said she wasnt allowed to,this was not the case I gave her the option.

Last but not least the hair and hygeine, she often comes with her in knots and mattes and I spend hours detangling and brushing it out and I learnt this weekend she hadn't had her hair washed in months so I made sure it was done, she said she also hadn't had a bath since the week prior so I made sure she was squeaky clean. Before school I make sure her hair is put back nicely and she yelled at my boyfriend because she came home with knotted hair like I have full control with what goes on at school.

Sorry if this sounds like complaining but it's not I love my stepdaughter more than anything in the world and I will do and comply to anything needed I just need to vent to someone because i do my best to make sure everything is as perfect as can be but always receive backlash for it.