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Teenager Who Try To Sabotage Blended Families

© Aaron Joseph Goebel

Gaining a new parent when you're a teenager is pretty rough. In many cases your mother gets custody, and you are soon faced with a man taking your Father's place in your Mom's life. It's not a pretty picture. You're no longer a child, but a young adult who is used to living your life a certain way. Since your Dad has been out of the picture for awhile, you've also assumed the role of man of the house. Mom has let you sort of take command on some things and has given you an elevated position over your siblings. (In my case, a younger brother) When you first met the boyfriend, it was a little uncomfortable, but he seemed like a pretty okay guy. Over the months of your Mom and his dating he would joke around with you and wrestle. He'd tell some good stories about his war days and take you fishing. He'd even slip you a few bucks now and then. You felt he treated you like a friend.

One day Mom and Friend call you in and make the announcement that they're getting married. They hope you will be happy for them. They know there will be some adjustments to be made, especially because Friend also has children, one of whom is 16 years old and I haven't met yet. He will be sharing my room when he visits, by the way.

I try to act happy for Mom and future Step-Dad, although deep inside I feel disappointed and confused. Sure, I want Mom to be happy, but I've just gotten comfortable with our new family situation and now we're going to have to go through another major change in our lives. Mom and future Step-Dad tell me that life without change doesn't exist, and we have to go with the flow and keep the lines of communication open. They ask me to be the best man at their wedding.

I meet my new Step-Brother at the wedding. We have a little ceremony at the house with just family and close friends. He seems pretty cool, although he doesn't seem too comfortable with the situation either. He hasn't forgiven his Father yet for the divorce between his parents, so that makes things a little more difficult for him to accept. In talking with him, I found that him and his Dad used to be really close. Since his parents split up they had become even tighter. They used to do quite a bit of activities together, like fishing, hunting, baseball and working on his car. Since his Dad met my Mom these activities had decreased drastically, and he didn't feel as important in his Dad's life anymore. I understood this guy! We were on the same wavelength. We decided that although we liked the other's parent pretty well, that things were just fine the way they were before the marriage, and maybe there was something we could do to return things to the way we liked them.

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