It can be hard to keep things fair when you have kids, and it can be even more difficult when you have stepchildren. This can cause of lot of drama and jealousy because kids can get really upset if they think their sibling is being treated better than they are.

In today’s story, one mom has a son and a stepdaughter. She recently redecorated her son’s room, and after her stepdaughter saw it, she was pretty upset, thinking it wasn’t fair.

Now, the mom isn’t sure what to do. Let’s read the story to see why this room makeover is such a big deal.

AITA for putting more effort into decorating my son’s room than my stepdaughter’s?

I (40F) have been with my husband (43M) for several years.

He has a daughter (13F) from a previous relationship. When we started dating and I was introduced to her, he made it very clear that she already had parents and didn’t need another one—what she needed was an advocate and mentor.

I was absolutely fine with that and have always tried to respect those boundaries.

For the most part, our relationship is good. She’s a great kid. Now, we also have a son together (3M). He’s my first and only biological child, and I had wanted him for a very long time.

She knew exactly how she wanted her son’s room to look.

Here’s the issue:

I had a very specific vision for my son’s room that I’d planned well in advance.

I painted two ombre walls that go from grass green to sky blue and transition into a dusty blue ceiling covered in glow-in-the-dark stars. His ceiling light has a sun-shaped lampshade, and his nightlight is a moon.

He has a Montessori-style floor bed designed to look like a tent, a grassy rug, a ball pit that looks like a pool, tree trunk–shaped toy chests that double as chairs and a table, and a tree-shaped bookshelf.

I paid for all of this myself.

She didn’t have as much say in how her stepdaughter’s room looked.

When it came to my stepdaughter’s room, we asked her what she wanted.

She said she wanted a reading nook, so we created one with a small round mattress, a ton of cushions in her favorite colors, and a mosquito net canopy.

She chose her wall colors (solid block shades), and we did the room together. We split the cost 50/50.

The rest of the furniture in her room was purchased by my husband before I came into the picture, and he doesn’t see any point in replacing it since it’s still in good condition. As a result, I didn’t have much say in that space.

Her stepdaughter got upset after seeing her stepbrother’s room.

Recently, after seeing my son’s room fully set up, my stepdaughter got upset. She said I clearly put way more effort into his space than hers and accused me of playing favorites because he’s “actually mine.”

I tried to explain that I didn’t want to overstep when it came to her room and that she made most of the choices herself.

But now she feels hurt and like I don’t care as much about her.

She feels guilty but doesn’t know what to do about it.

I do feel guilty because I can see how, from her perspective, it looks unfair.

But I also don’t know how to navigate doing more without violating the boundaries my husband and I set early on.

I’m not her parent, and I didn’t want to push decisions onto her room. At the same time, I now wonder if I should have tried harder or been more involved.

So Reddit… AITA?

I can see why the stepdaughter feels jealous, but this sounds like a conversation she needs to have with her dad. It sounds like her dad doesn’t want to give her a complete room makeover with new furniture since she already has furniture.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

Her husband needs to contribute.

She could ask her stepdaughter what she wants done to her room.

They could go shopping.

Her husband really needs to get involved.

Maybe it’s time for another bedroom makeover.

Thought that was satisfying? Check out what this employee did when their manager refused to pay for their time while they were traveling for business.