Imagine growing up with just your mom. If she started dating someone you liked well enough, would you support her new relationship even if you didn’t like her boyfriend’s kids, or would you hope they’d break up?

In this story, one teenage boy is in this exact situation, and he’s supportive of his mom’s relationship.

The problem is that she doesn’t want to move forward unless he can get along with the other kids.

Let’s read the whole story.

AITA for telling my mom to get over me not liking her boyfriends kids and just get serious with him already?

My mom has been dating this guy Rick since I (17m) was 13.

I met him 6 months into his and mom’s relationship and I met his kids, aged 10 and 12 now, after he won full custody of them from their mom.

I don’t like Rick’s kids.

In small amounts I can tolerate being around them but I would prefer not to be.

Here are some of the reasons he doesn’t like them.

They’re really loud and don’t listen well to anyone except for Rick.

They have attachment issues and they formed an attachment to me but actively avoided my mom for most of the last three years which is when me and mom met them first.

I know some of it is kid stuff but they act younger than their ages which Rick says is trauma related and they’re in a kind of therapy I can’t think of the name for.

But those aren’t the only problems.

They are so easily destructive and it gets old.

There are times they get so crazy that they ruin everyone’s dinner or lunch.

Rick pulls them away and punishes them but there’s impulse issues and right after then they expect to be all over me and sitting with me.

His daughter (10) has asked to snuggle with me when she comes down from being so hyper. But it’s not even hyper like ADHD which I know kids with. It’s like they have periods where they’re way younger kids than they are. There are times it comes out in how they talk too because they sound younger.

He tries to avoid Rick’s kids.

It has been a little better lately but I find their clinginess annoying and not sweet. So I avoid spending time with them as much as possible now.

I’ve skipped days where Rick and my mom went to the beach, amusement park, etc.

My mom and I’ve talked about it a lot.

His mom really cares about his feelings.

She told me she really loves Rick and she’s willing to help him with the kids, especially now that they don’t shy away from her and refuse to look at her. But she said they struggle to make a serious go of things when I don’t like his kids.

She has asked me dozens of times if my feelings have changed or if I care for Rick’s kids at all. We even went to a therapist together and she wanted to know if I’d be okay with her and Rick living together.

And I said I would as long as I could have a lock on my door while I live there.

That made my mom sad and the therapist wanted to keep talking to her but mom only wanted to be there with me.

He avoided Rick’s kids during a family gathering.

Last weekend my mom decided to invite Rick, the kids and his parents and sister over and she invited my grandparents, aunts and uncles along and she wanted a day of us all together.

She got sad when I didn’t want to play with Rick’s kids and when I ended up going for a walk with grandpa who Rick’s kids were super uncomfortable around.

While we were gone my bike ended up in the wreckage of Rick’s kids getting so uncomfortable that they were destructive again.

He took them straight home after that.

His mom is making him the priority over Rick.

Rick paid for the bike to be replaced and he made his kids apologize and then he said it’d be a couple of weeks before he could see mom because the kids needed to experience the consequences of what they did.

In the meantime he and mom have been texting and they keep wanting to move in together but she’s hesitant still because of me.

When she started word vomiting about it I told her to just get serious, move in and I’ll be able to move out soon so it won’t be an issue.

She told me that is the issue because I’d move out rather than live with them.

He tried to reassure his mom that it was okay to move in with Rick.

I told her she needs to decide because she can’t keep flip flopping and my feelings aren’t changing. I assured her I wouldn’t hate her and we’d still see each other even if I moved out. That she doesn’t have to lose me and I want her to be happy.

She brought up me not liking the kids again and that’s when I got so annoyed that I told her she needs to get over it because she can’t control how I feel and she can’t make me responsible for her relationship like this. I’m almost an adult and will be out of her hair soon enough.

I could tell it upset her that I put it like that. But this back and forth is crazy and nothing is coming from it.

AITA?

His mom probably doesn’t like to think about the fact that he’s almost 18 and old enough to move out on his own. It’s sweet that she’s putting her son first, and it’s sweet that he wants his mom to move forward with her relationship despite how he feels about the kids.

Let’s see how Reddit reacted to this story.

This person is impressed with how mature he is being about this.

Another person explains what the mom is probably thinking.

Or, there could be another reason the mom is dragging her feet.

She might want him to help with the kids.

They really have a great mother and son relationship.

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.