Man Pays for Stepson's College, but Refuses to Pay for His Stepdaughters

The man in this story made every effort to win the love of his grownup stepchildren, but when the one that has always disliked him is now asking for his money, putting him in a difficult situation with his wife.

A 46-year-old man who didn’t want to reveal his identity (let’s call him Mr. Anonymous) recently took to Reddit to ask his fellow users their opinion on a difficult situation that he is facing at home.

Mr. Anonymous used fictional names to refer to his wife and stepchildren in order to protect their identities as well. He named his 44-year-old wife “Janice,” his 25-year-old stepson “Jonas,” and his 25-year-old stepdaughter “Lucy.”

The head of family started off by explaining that Jonas and Lucy’s biological father was killed in a car accident before they were even born, leaving Janice to raise them as a single mother.

Two years ago, Mr. Anonymous married Janice, whom he first met five years ago, and according to him, he is very much in love with his wife and the two maintain “an amazing relationship.”

It was only after Mr. Anonymous had dated Janice for a year when she introduced him to her children. But while Jonas was very excited about meeting him, Lucy was rather skeptical when not upfront hostile to him.

“She was mean to me and overall distant. She made some inappropriate comments like ‘why you even other, when you will eventually leave my mom’ or ‘my mom is better without you,” the man said about his now-stepdaughter.

While Mr. Anonymous would have loved to nurture a loving relationship with Lucy, he respected her decision as an adult to stay away from him, and he kept bonding with Jonas.

When the time came for Mr. Anonymous and Janice to get marry, Janice moved into her husband’s place, and while the children lived in another city to attend college, they were both welcome to stay at Mr. Anonymous’ big home on weekends.

Jonas has since visited every other weekend, but as of Lucy, she only visits about twice a year.

Recently, after Jonas and Lucy graduated from college, the party-of-four got together to celebrate the children’s milestone, and not having children of his own and having saved some money, Mr. Anonymous offered to pay off Jonas’ student debt.

The problem is that Mr. Anonymous is not willing to do the same for Lucy, who never showed him any interest in relating to him, something that not only got Lucy upset, but also her mother.

Now, Janice will not allow Mr. Anonymous to pay for Jonas’ debt if he doesn’t accept to do the same for Lucy, even if she doesn’t deserve it.

Although most of the people that commented on Mr. Anonymous’ situation agreed that he has no obligation toward his wife’s grown children whom he met relatively recently, some pointed out that helping one of them and not the other will only make things worse between him and Lucy.

Click here to read another story about a man that refused to get his son’s paternity tested even when his wife pressured him to do it.