bratt!

At 12, everyone is a brat! They really have no clue... I raised 3 kids to adulthood... I found that a quiet stare was my most effective 'weapon'. If they said something disrespectful, I would simply look at them... that quiet moment made them think about what they had just done. My daughter told me she felt quite ashamed of herself at those times. I have 7 stepbrothers and sisters... but from the day I met them, the 'step' part was never present. We are all the same family, and although 'their' mother and 'my' father are gone now, we will always be related by love.

i would suggest that you talk it over with your wife on how to deal with her, you cannot do it alone and she might not listen to you. your wife would be the catalyst since she should know how to discipline her "bratt". I would also suggest that you try to be patient in letting her feel that you are a friend to her since you are her step dad , she must be resentful. At times show her your father authority.

I guess all you can do with a child that age, is take away privileges. Tell her that her disrespect has caused her to lose the right to phone calls, cell phone, going out, allowance etc. I don't have any step-children myself but I can imagine how hard it must be. Especially when they are pre-teens or teens. I wish you luck!

It is important that your wife and you be a solid front when dealing with the kids. It is important that mom enforce the rules and make sure her children respect you, but please understand her stand point as well. There is a new life, new man in her mom's and her life, she is dealing with becoming a woman and is now no longer a child, she is mixed up, her body and hormones are changing and I am pretty sure she doesn't know how to feel about that. So, there are a lot of changes going on. Us women, we are pretty mysterious creatures at that age lol. PMS to the max! So, first I would talk to your wife about your concerns, work out a game plan, then sit her down together and talk to her. But you have to also, make her comfortable to do that. Right now when she is in a bad mood she feels like your the enemy. So, kind of step back, take a breather, but let her know that your there to talk when she wants to. It will take time, believe me, I have a thirteen year old and when she hits her mood swing oh it is awful.

I don't know if there is an answers. These days many kids lack respect for others. It is easy to say "ignore it" but that's not so easy to do. I tend to look for a way in which I am OK when the ugly offensive moods come across. I try to get to that space where I can recognise that the problem is with the "attacker" and not with me. I'm getting better at it, but I often still get "hooked" by the lack of respect.

moody is normal not only to the kids also in the adult, i have stepfather too but i did not grow with them,i grow up to my grandparent but i visit them sometimes and they also visit me sometimes,when i was thats age i felt mad to my stepdad thinking that he get away the attention of my mom.i always find way that he get mad at me everytime grandmom bring me there house or everytime they visit there in my grandparent house..but now we r ok with my step dad..try to understand her and show her that u love her as ur own,..always talk to her tell her also what u feel and what u want and of course ur wife must to help u to do that ....Good luck to u! God bless and more power!!!!

I have only heard of stepmother and her treatment to the children. I do not have one and none of my relatives or friends have one. God knows why stepmother is created if she is cruel and partisan.