A few years back, my husband and I were having some argument over my relationship with my stepdaughter. He told me that if he was in my place and I was the one with the kid that he would be treating my child as good as gold and that he would give that child everything that he had.

Wishful thinking?

What if my imaginary child was being disrespectful towards him like his child was being to me?
What if my imaginary child was lying to him?
What if my imaginary child was doing her best to get in between him and myself?
What if I constantly sided with my imaginary child and imaginary ex instead of him?
What if I told him that he could not give me affection when my imaginary child was with us?
What if I was bullying him to try to force him to treat my imaginary child better?
What if I had constantly told him how much better my and my imaginary child's life was before I had married him?
What if I never believed him when he said anything negative about my imaginary child?
What if I never disciplined my imaginary child and let him or her run the house?
What if my imaginary child had more of say than he did in how the house was decorated or what animals we got?
What if he was jealous of my relationship with my imaginary child?
What if I never listened to him and told him what he was feeling?
What if I always told him that he was wrong?
What if I made him do all the cooking and cleaning while my imaginary child and I had fun playing games together?
What if my imaginary child refused to eat the food that he cooked?
What if I treated him like crap for trying to discipline my imaginary child since I refused to discipline?
What if I let my imaginary child's other parent have more of a say to what goes on in our house than I let my husband?
What if I never gave him a say in our family activities and always gave into what my imaginary child wanted to do or not do?
What if all I cared about was my imaginary child's needs and perceived needs and I ignored and chastised him for wanting his needs met?
What if I forced him to spend a minimum of 8 hours each day that we had my imaginary child at my parents house and never let him do what he wanted?
What if I was always harping on him for his imperfections?
What if I was comparing him to my imaginary child and saying how my imaginary child is such a better person than he is?
What if I gave our money to my imaginary child's father every time that he asked...without asking him?
What if I constantly let my imaginary child use his things without asking?
What if I demanded that he respect my imaginary child's things...even though I was letting my imaginary child use his stuff without asking?
What if I expected him to be the perfect parent for my imaginary child and pointed out every time that he failed?
What if my imaginary child broke something special of his, my imaginary child lied about it, and I didn't make my imaginary child apologize because I didn't believe that my imaginary child was capable of lying?
What if when my imaginary child was arguing disrespectfully with him I scolded him for arguing with my imaginary child?
What if my excuse for everything was either that my imaginary child is "just a kid" and isn't responsible for him or herself?
What if when we were all together, all my imaginary child talked about were all the good times that we had together before I had met him?
What if I allowed my imaginary child to be a spoiled brat who threw a fit anytime that he or she didn't get exactly what they wanted?
What if I thought it was cute and I thought that he was a jerk for not worshipping my imaginary child with me?
What if I let my imaginary ex walk all over me?
What if I didn't stand up to my imaginary ex when he said negative things about my husband?
What if I got a few gray hairs and blamed it on my husband stressing the heck out of me?
What if I told him that since he wasn't a good enough father for my imaginary child that I was not going to have the children with him that I agreed to have before we married?
What if I told him that I would not allow my imaginary child to call him dad...even though I fully expected him to be the perfect father and certainly a better one that his or her biological father?
What if my imaginary child refused any help that he tried to give?
What if my imaginary child fought him every time that he tried to do anything nice?
What if I told him that I have enough problems with dealing with my imaginary ex and a stressful job that I expected him not to give me any problems?
What if I told him outright that all of our fights are his fault? What if I called him names and yelled at him for hours on end?
What if I constantly blamed him for ruining my relationship with my imaginary child...even though my imaginary child obviously worshipped the ground that I walked on?

...Would he still treat my child like gold and give my child everything that he had? If he still would after all that, he is indeed a far bigger person than I am!