My new husband has been struggling to balance being married to me and co-parenting with his ex-wife. In large part, they seldom agree on anything when it comes to their 12-year-old daughter and my input is slim to none. And that is just the way the ex-wife wants it. Most recently my stepdaughter came to visit on her scheduled weekend, and we stayed up late watching a marathon of “Love and Hip-Hop: Atlanta.”
The show is my guilty pleasure and my stepdaughter loves to watch it with me. Her mother is very strict at their house, but she’s never told me that she is not allowed to watch the show. My husband came home from work and saw what we were watching and crumbled on the inside. I asked him what was wrong, and he said that his ex-wife specifically doesn’t want their daughter watching ratchet reality television.
I shrugged my shoulders in an ‘oh-well’ manner and turned the television to something else. My stepdaughter begged me to turn it back, but I refused. I didn’t want to overtly disrespect and disobey her mother’s wishes. It was very important to me that her father and I stand in solidarity with her biological mother on this issue so she sees we are a united front and doesn’t try to play us against each other.
When my stepdaughter arrived back to her mother’s house, 15 minutes hadn’t gone by before my husband’s ex-wife was blowing up his phone. She found out that her daughter had watched “Love and Hip Hop” with me and was explosive with her commentary about how ill-equipped I am to be raising somebody’s daughter. She called me names, and my husband defended me and my decision. He apologized profusely to his ex-wife for what happened, but she wants an apology from me.
Do I owe her an apology, or should my husband’s apology suffice?
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