When you have a blended family, it can be difficult to make sure that you are planning activities properly for everyone.

What would you do if your sister-in-law was trying to tell you that you should wait to do any fun activities for the weeks that your stepkids were there?

That is the situation the parent in this story is in, and she thinks she should be having fun with the kids every week, not just when the stepchildren are around.

Check it out.

AITA for not waiting for my stepkids to be with us before doing something with my biological children?

I have two children (4 and 2) with my husband and two stepkids (10 and 9) from his prior marriage.

My husband and his ex-wife share physical and legal custody and have equal parenting time of their children.

So, my stepkids are with us every other week.

This type of thing happens, kids go through phases.

For a while now my stepkids have been acting up when I’m left in charge.

They’re pushing far more boundaries, they tell me I’m not their mom repeatedly if I’m he only one around.

Their behavior in public when I go anywhere with them alone is worse and the won’t listen if it’s me talking to them.

My husband is addressing this but his ex sees no issue with them not listening to me.

She has told him she does not care.

So, it’s entirely on us to address it and finding the right solution is taking time.

How is this the SIL’s business at all.

My stepkids behavior is something my SIL has latched onto and she’s accusing me of punishing them in unfair ways because of their behavior.

And why is this?

Because I do fun things with my kids, take them places, on days my stepkids are with their mom.

I took my kids to a book fair that was running and we had a good day.

I’ve taken them shopping to let them pick out a new toy or plushy.

Or we’d go to events at the library or to a movie.

Those kinds of things that I do that are now being questioned.

SIL does not think I should be doing most of that when my stepkids are with their mom and she said she feels I’m doing it as a way of punishing them for acting out on me when they don’t with anyone else.

She said it looks like I want to exclude them.

My husband told her she was crazy and that life can’t stop every other week because the kids aren’t here.

No, she is just planning activities for the kids all the time, not just half.

She told him it seems like I’m living it up with my real kids when the fake ones are with their real mom.

I told her we do things with my stepkids all the time.

That all I’m doing is making sure the weeks they’re not here aren’t spent waiting around for them.

She asked why that would be a bad thing and I said it’s because there are two other kids to think about.

I told her she never said anything before.

She said she’s increasingly bothered by it because she sees the kids behavior getting worse and believes it’s my way of punishing them.

I can see waiting on certain big things to do with the whole family.

She asked me why I can’t wait to do any big stuff for when my step kids are here.

My husband told her to shut up and SIL said we were in denial and I should really think about this.

I want to check because she has planted some doubt in my head about this.

AITA?

She can’t put her life, and the lives of her kids, on hold every other week.

That is just ridiculous.

Let’s see what the people in the comments say about it.

This commenter thinks the SIL is unhinged.

Exactly, the stepkids are still doing fun things.

This isn’t a bad idea.

You can’t put parenting on hold.

Exactly, these are normal everyday activities.

Sister-in-law needs to mind her own business.

This mom is doing a great job and she is clearly working out any behavioral issues with the step-kids in a healthy way (even though bio-mom is making it more difficult).

If you enjoyed that story, read this one about a mom who was forced to bring her three kids with her to apply for government benefits, but ended up getting the job of her dreams.