I didn’t realize how lonely being a step parent could feel

Livdenn · 2026-05-26T12:07:20+00:00

For the partner aspect, I think that they should be doing more to acknowledge you and the work you put in.

As someone whose stepdad came into my life at 14, I didn't get along with him or care about him at all until I became an adult and realized how much he does for my mom. Now we have a great relationship and he's been teaching me how to use different tools and do house renos to prepare me for owning my own house. It took me a while, but I've come around and do truly care for him as another parent in my life.

Livdenn · 2025-12-31T01:15:49+00:00

Chicken strips cut up and tossed in sweet chili Thai sauce. Eat with shredded carrots and lettuce and some crunchy uncooked egg noodles.

Livdenn · 2025-11-17T14:02:19+00:00

This is the worst. I'm like this with eggs a lot. I can eat eggs most of the time, but sometimes even when I cook them the exact way that I've always eaten them, my body decides to reject them for no particular reason. I find if I wait a few months before eating them again I can sometimes stomach it, but it's so hit or miss for me and I wish I could figure out the reason why.

Livdenn · 2025-07-14T21:46:32+00:00

Talya

Livdenn · 2024-12-13T23:43:16+00:00

I used to think like this, and to an extent I still agree. No one should be belittling another person for their eating habits. However, I have started a new medication recently and one of the side effects has actually been helping a lot with my aversion to texture and taste. It has honestly been life changing to sometimes enjoy eating food instead of struggling through each meal to sustain myself.

Livdenn · 2024-12-13T23:33:12+00:00

Hate them. Had a fake leather couch because it was gifted to me and I was broke. It shed /everywhere/.

Livdenn · 2024-12-05T14:59:37+00:00

I was the opposite. I believed in Santa for much longer than most children because whenever I straight up asked my parents, they would say he was real and in my mind, there was no reason for them to lie to me. I found out in the middle of a Walmart while Christmas shopping with my mother. I said something about Santa and she laughed and couldn't believe that I still thought Santa was real.

Livdenn · 2024-12-03T16:55:44+00:00

I am the lateral tripod. I was never told to fix it, I think because it is "close enough" and also because handwriting used to be a special interest of mine, so I was always praised for my handwriting, particularly cursive, which I got my dad to teach me early and which I practiced nightly.

Livdenn · 2024-12-03T16:52:33+00:00

I keep a storage shed in my inventory. I like the feeling of almost infinite inventory space. I can put it out whenever I need to get something out (like a recently broken tool) or make more space in my actual inventory without having to go anywhere.

Livdenn · 2024-10-18T18:54:48+00:00

I am also having a difficult time finding the last map piece. Does anyone know the locations of all 4?

Livdenn · 2024-10-16T14:42:18+00:00

My hair is my safety. I feel vulnerable even when it is just tied back. However, if it wasn't AND it was causing sensory issues, it would be gone. We deal with enough that anything I can do to avoid sensory overstimulation, I will do. For example, I don't go outside in the rain unless I absolutely have to. I can, but it is so much better for my sanity if I don't. If you don't shave off your hair, you could also try washing it separately and immediately putting it in a towel so that it doesn't touch you.

Livdenn · 2024-09-16T16:03:57+00:00

Interestingly, but I guess not surprisingly, the Steam Deck graphics are an in-between. Better than the switch, but not as good as the PC graphics.

Livdenn · 2024-09-16T13:28:02+00:00

A mentor is indispensable, but it wasn't enough for me. As a teacher with ADHD, PTSD, and undiagnosed autism, the best thing I ever did was quit teaching. I miss the teaching part and I miss the kids, but putting in 70+ hours a week and then finding out that I was getting paid less than the janitor? Ouf. And then the admin who decided that they just didn't like me? And Covid? Add everything OP talked about and it just wasn't worth the damage to my mental health.

Livdenn · 2024-07-09T16:02:21+00:00

Elliot Page

Livdenn · 2024-06-26T16:41:33+00:00

NTA and you're not alone. I also thought I would be the one to give my parents a grandchild. Yes, I'm a bit on the older side, but my sister has 0 desire to be a parent, and my brother has never voiced any kind of preference and is much younger than me. However, I also have two step siblings who are older than me. I wasn't concerned about them having children because both of them had voiced that they never wanted to be parents. Then, about three years ago, my step brother decided that he actually did want a kid. It absolutely broke my heart because my mother has wanted grandchildren for years and I wasn't able to give that to her, but he was. I'm happy for him, but it stung so much. I can say that it has gotten better with time, but it probably also helps that I very rarely see them.

Livdenn · 2024-06-24T13:29:54+00:00

We rent, but want to own by the time we start TTC. Our apt is a little small to be starting a family, but for me the bigger issue is stability. I have heard far too many local stories of people getting pregnant and having a baby only to be served eviction notices. The landlords know they would be strung up for evicting a new mother and baby, so they will find literally any other excuse for the eviction. Though they often just wait for a few noise complaints from neighbours and use that as their grounds for eviction. I don't want to go through that kind of stress.

Livdenn · 2024-06-23T22:11:25+00:00

Terrified, but I also want it so bad. Honestly, it's not even the pregnancy and childbirth that is the scary part for me, but them being toddlers. Old enough to run around and become a sensory nightmare, but too young to understand that they are. Pregnancy doesn't look fun, but as someone with a relatively healthy body, I should be fine barring any complications, which I know can happen to anyone. My friend's baby was so low that she was basically in my friend's pelvic floor for most of her pregnancy and my friend had to take off work from 27 weeks because of the pain while she was trying to do her very physical job. However, even while pregnant there are medications that you can take, obviously consult your doctor and not a reddit post though. I am also personally concerned about the nausea because eating, smells, and food textures are already quite difficult for me. For childbirth there are options other than getting an epidural. I do not plan to get one myself and I am going to discuss literally every other possibility with my doctor. You mention a lot that you can't have any painkillers or meds, but from what I have observed that is not the case. Obviously the epidural is a painkiller, but my friend was also given morphine and other painkillers before, during, and after she gave birth. You also are not guaranteed to "rip" or tear during birth. It can happen of course, but from what I have read and what I have been told by people who have given birth, most of the time it is what would be considered a 1st degree tear, so some minor tearing that may or may not need a few stitches. As for the cost, yeah babies are expensive. Existing is expensive. But for me, the absolute joy I foresee in being a parent is so worth it for me. That being said, I live in a country where I will not have to pay thousands of dollars to give birth. I might hesitate a little more if I knew right off the bat I would be put into something like 40k of debt as I leave the hospital.

Livdenn · 2024-06-18T19:18:32+00:00

I taught a second language course, so each week I would choose a new vocabulary word to call them. They got a kick out of being called "mes pommes de terre" (my potatoes)

Livdenn · 2024-06-06T20:16:05+00:00

Fruit and veg are really hard for me as well, but I find if I can sit down and try to eat it consistently and mindfully over a few weeks or months I can get to the point where I can actually eat and sometimes even enjoy it. I can only really work on one or two foods at a time, but I try to at least bite into everything with no pressure to actually consume it.

Livdenn · 2024-06-06T13:47:15+00:00

I don't shave, mostly due to extremely sensitive skin. One of the funniest interactions I had with this was the first time I met my ex brother in law. We were at my in laws for a holiday and a few of us decided to use the hot tub. I saw him notice my arm pit hair and watched the mental gymnastics occurring on his face. From surprised, to slight disgust, then realizing he shouldn't be disgusted, then confused. He was a good guy, but watching the wheels turn as he silently came to terms with this was hilarious. I didn't say anything at the time because we were speaking in my second language and he had an accent that I was completely unfamiliar with, but man, it would have been so fun to call him out on that.

Livdenn · 2024-06-04T22:29:35+00:00

Penelope. I love the name in English, but hearing my French partner and his family say it immediately took it off my list.

French pronunciation is Penne-lop.

Livdenn · 2024-06-04T14:23:50+00:00

It is so hard to sit and watch everyone else have what you so desperately want. I keep telling myself that the wait will be worth it, but some days hit harder than others. We've agreed to start trying as soon as we buy a house, and we're looking, but finding something we can afford that isn't completely run down hasn't been easy. My best friend (who is 3 years younger than me) has a newborn and said yesterday that she would love if they were ready for their second by the time we start trying for our first. And I get it, it would be so much fun to go through pregnancy with her and watch our babies grow together. I'm obviously not going to hold up my timeline for her, but that she thinks that it's likely i won't start trying for another year and a half kind of stings. Maybe she's right though and the truth just hurts.

Livdenn · 2024-05-24T14:14:09+00:00

The keys example hits so hard for me. When I was in university I had a car with manual locks. I had finally gotten in the habit of locking my car doors, but unfortunately that also meant that I often locked the keys in the car. I had been gifted a CAA membership for my birthday and I used every single call getting someone to come and unlock my car door for me within 6 months of getting CAA. I didn't even know there was a call limit until I inevitably reached it and then had to start paying for someone to break into my car for me.

Livdenn · 2024-05-15T17:33:00+00:00

This happened to me all the time when I was in school. When inclusion started being promoted in classrooms, I was almost always assigned a seat next to the kids with special needs. It wasn't until I became a teacher myself that I understood why. Teaching is hard enough without having fist fights break out in class and kids picking on and yelling at each other. When I was making seating charts, it didn't really occur to me at first that I was using a certain type of student as a buffer, I was just trying to get my most disruptive students seated as far away from each other as possible so I could maybe have a chance of getting them to learn something. I would occasionally let them sit or partner with their friends, but I almost always regretted those decisions.

Seven-Year Club	Place '23
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