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Mamas with non-BD BF'sSubmitted by MamaButterfly on Mon, 11/03/2008 - 6:44am.
If you live with your boyfriend, and he is NOT your baby's daddy, what are some reasonable ways to share chores/finances/labor? Should it matter that he isn't your BD? If a guy wants to be with you, does that mean he has to whole-heartedly accept step-parenthood? And what does that mean? login to post comments
( categories: Relationships )
My so is not my bd either but we don't live together. We don't have any plans to move in together as of right now but it is in the future, so we haven't talked much about the living together issues yet. So the situation is a bit different than yours. As of now, my bf and my son are sort of at the "friendly" level, where neither I nor my so feel like he should be responsible for discipline (although he does sometimes correct behavior if I miss something). As far as E is concerned, my bf is sort of like his friend. However I do agree w/ Adcaela that I couldn't live with my bf if there wasn't some sort of agreement as far as parenting goes. login to post comments
I'm single right now. I haven't seriously dated anyone since me and my bd broke up a year and a half ago. But I sometimes wonder about what it'll be like. login to post comments
I cannot offer direct advice to the questions you asked, but what stood out to me is this: you said "Even though he does x, y, z, I'm feeling like I'm being used right now." So regardless of how you divvy things up, you should explore this more, and see what is at the root of this feeling. It may not be related to chores at all. login to post comments
My boyfriend an I have been together for a year and a half and he shares equally just as much responsibility for my son as his real dad should. He puts him to bed if I want to go to the gym, etc things like that. He pays all of the rent. but I guess my situations a little different as he has 2 kids that I help with.we take turns doing whatever the other needs at that moment. login to post comments
IMO, and this is just my opinion, you do not need to be living with someone who isn't ready to be a family. When you have kids, and you live with someone, you have to become a functioning unit or this kind of resentment is going to happen. Even in my situation with a roommate, when she was treating my son unfairly as compared to her children, when she was expecting me to put in more money/time/etc, it's just not right. login to post comments
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Hetero-normativity Reminder: Some of here on GM have GF's and not BF's
I think it depends on the level of the relationship and on what terms you agreed to live together under (was it becoming a family or being roommates). For my relationship my partner does not live with me plan to live together next year and talk about being family. We spend weekends together (it's a long-distance relationship) When we are together, he does bed-time/nap-time when I need to study or stay up for some reason, we equally share things like cooking and cleaning (although I pack lunches for Cae), I do all the toileting, we share bath time, we both read to Cae and we take trade off 'parenting' throughout the day. When I need a break he steps in and when he needs a break I do. We are just now at a point in our relationship (after 1 1/2 years) where I feel like it is okay to ask him (not in a do me a favor way) to do something for Cae, like put on his shoes or put him to bed.
I think for us we plan on being together indefinitely. He knows that if we get married/commit to each other it will mean that he is saying he is ready to be a parent to Cae.
I don't think I could handle living with a bf/gf who was not ready to help parent my kid. To me, parenting is harder with another live-in adult who is not willing to help parent than it is as a single mom with a live-out bf/gf...
SO and I tried living together a year ago and he was not ready and it caused a lot of stress because his presence was a constant reminder of how unequal things were.