The Stepmother: Classic Complaints
"Everyone in his life, his kids, his former wife, and his business, come before me."
"He expects me to treat them as if I were their own mother, but then doesn't let me be a mother."
"I want a child of my own, and he's had enough."
"His ex calls and he jumps to her commands. It seems as though she has more influence on him than anybody."
"My money goes to support this family because his money goes to take care of her and them."
"His former wife never says thank you for any of the things I do."
"The children treat me like the maid; I'm expected to do everything that their mother would do for them, but without the respect they would give to her. Even the cleaning lady gets more appreciation than I do."
"He believes that buying them something, or entertaining, is fathering."
"Guilt runs his relationship with the children."
"His children say the meanest things to me, and my husband defends them and tells ME I'm overreacting."
"I think I'm becoming the "cruel" stepmother."
"The worst of it is, when his children come over we have no sex life."

The Fathers of Divorce and Step: Classic Complaints
"She knew I had children when she married me, so why does she act this way now?"
"In so much of what she says to the children there is an edge of nastiness in her voice."
"She acts more like a child than they do."
"She wants a baby and she can't even handle my children."
"She's obsessed by everything my former wife does."
"Will she ever understand how hard it is on a man to lose his children?"
"Will she ever know how haunted I am by the guilt of not being there?"
"Can't she just respect that the notion of "quality time" is just not enough?"
"How can she expect me to discipline them when I see them so little?"
"I'm afraid they will go and never come back if I start punishing them."
"She see things they do that I never see."
"Sometimes I think she is looking to find the worse in them."
"Sure my ex-wife has control over me: She controls my children."
"My ex makes me out to be the monster, when she wanted the divorce."
"My money can never go far enough. Nor is it ever in the right place."
"Sometimes I get so hurt by her leaving all day Saturday and expecting me to take the children out to dinner alone. But if I say anything she'll probably be there even less."

The Stepfather: Classic Complaints
"Here she was alone with those kids, I come in to put some order in the place . . . and they all reject me."
"I can't teach them what they need to learn from a man. She doesn't support me."
"She always jumps to the kids' defense when I correct them. She's turning her boys into wimps."
"She says I'm too tough. Kids who misbehave need someone to be tough with them."
"I give her kids the gift of my time and no one says thank you."
"They're fresh, don't help her, and never, unless I raise my voice, listen to me."
"A man has to be King of his Castle. I feel like the house boy."
"It's her house, the kids were there before me, and they let me know that."
"My wife treats me like an outsider when it comes to the kids."
"They need a man around here, and she and they won't let me be one!"
"I buy the kids stuff and they hardly say thank you."
"She has been too busy with her job to be a mother."
"There is so much tension in the house when the children are here."
"I love her so much when we're alone and they're at their father's house."
"People write about the plight of the stepmother. What about the stepfather?"
"Who acknowledges what I'm really feeling emasculated in my own home."
"I feel like a third wheel when I'm with her and her kids."
"I'm not the head of this house; the kids run it and she lets them."
"I must come first for this to work."

The Single Mother with Custody: Classic Complaints
"I have all the daily burdens and then he gets the kids every other weekend and takes them on great vacations with his girlfriend."
"I feel that I have too much responsibility with not enough money to handle it."
"When the kids visit him he plays with them. He is the classic Disneyland Daddy."
"The kids love it. They're treated like princes and princesses. They never have to help."
"My living standard has plummeted as his continues to increase."
"The children are my responsibility. He does so little to discipline or guide them."
"His payments are late, yet he expects me to have the kids well dressed and on time when he wants them."
"Why shouldn't I bad mouth him to the kids? They deserve to know how awful he is."
"I hardly have time to date, and who wants a woman with kids?"
"He married this young thing and the kids say they can't stand her. Who is she to tell my children what to do?"
"I told the children that they don't have to listen to her, or obey her."
"The kids tell me everything that happens at that house. I think he and the new wife fight a lot over the children. I would never talk to her."
"He hasn't got a good word to say about all those years I raised our children."
"We have very little contact. He picks them up and honks the horn."

Kids in Step: Classic Complaints
"I want my old family back. I want things the way they were, I miss things the way they were - even though Mom and Dad fought."
"Nobody has enough time for me."
"I'm sad when Mom's sad, and I'm sad when Dad's sad, and they are both sad too much."
"I don't know what they want from me."
"I'm angry and don't know why."
"Dad is busy with his new family."
"It's boring over at Dad's house."
"It's wonderful at Dad's house. I wish I could live with Dad."
"I miss my father."
"Dad and I have a great time, except for her."
"He gives more to her kids and to her than us."
"He never thought about us when he moved."
"Dad left Mom, but he really left me."
"There must be something wrong with me."
"Mom is wonderful, but that friend of hers is awful. She's always paying attention to him and not us.She lets him tell us what to do."
"They go away together and leave us alone."
"She has always done things for me, and now he says she spoils me."
"She lets him say awful things about me."
"I don't want to say hello to him."
"I wish he weren't here."
"We've been doing just fine without him. Why do we need him now?"
"I don't know where I belong."
"They will never know how hard it is to visit Dad/Mom."
"They get upset when I tell them about the good time I had when I visit."
"Mom doesn't have enough money. I wish I could help her out."
"Dad doesn't know how hard it is at home without him."
"My Stepmother is NOT my mother (or my brother's mother, my sister's mother, the dog's mother, etc.) OR the boss in this house! (Everyone knows Daddy is except Daddy!)"
"It's not fair.....! She picks on all of us because she is not our mother, how's that for a catch 22!"