Controlling Stepdaughter Forbids Stepmom and Stepsister from Dining in Restaurant Special to Her

• A woman and her daughter had to deal with her stepdaughter's controlling antics because her husband just let his daughter be.
• When the woman's daughter wanted to celebrate her birthday at a particular restaurant, her stepdaughter refused because the place held special memories for her.
• Furious, she went on with the birthday celebration without her husband and stepdaughter, and it caused a rift in their family.

A woman married a divorcée and had been with him for two years when she snapped about his daughter's behavior. She shared her story on Reddit, hoping to get clarification about whether what she did was wrong.

The 36-year-old woman had a 12-year-old daughter, Morgan. Her husband, Jeff, also shared a 16-year-old daughter with his first wife, whom they called Alicia.

Alicia never bothered getting close to her stepmother and stepsister. She had preconceived notions about what it meant to welcome them into the family, so she never did.

In fact, the teenager always found ways to make things difficult for the woman and her daughter. When they moved in together, Alicia dictated which room Morgan would stay in and which areas could be redecorated.

Alicia claimed that her reason for controlling so much of what went on around the house was because of its sentimental value. She wanted to keep it the way her mom used to. Meanwhile, her father, Jeff, saw no problem with this and asked his new wife and stepdaughter to extend their patience.

Sick of her stepdaughter's manipulative tendencies, she told her she could stay home if she refused to attend the birthday dinner.

Her Stepdaughter was Manipulative

Eventually, Alicia started warming up to the thought of having a stepmother and stepsister around. However, most of the time, she still fought to get her way.

Several conversations between Alicia and her stepmom ended up with the teenager throwing a fit. Most of the time, their arguments revolved around Alicia trying to control particular aspects of her stepmom and stepsister's lives.

The argument got so bad that at one point, Jeff had to step in and tell his daughter that she wasn't allowed to dictate what the woman and her daughter could and couldn't do. Alicia eventually agreed.

Unfortunately, the teenager didn't take her dad's words to heart. During Morgan's birthday, she decided to try and control the narrative once again.

Morgan's mother had asked her daughter to choose a restaurant where they would celebrate her birthday. Morgan picked a fancy but affordable restaurant. However, when Alicia found out, she said no and started throwing a fit.

Her Stepdaughter Disapproved of the Restaurant Choice

"When Alicia heard which restaurant we were going to, she went off on me and Morgan and said that we can't go to that restaurant because she had tons of memories there of her "perfect old family" and she won't let us taint the memory for her," the woman explained. Dumbfounded, the woman felt Alicia's response was utterly unreasonable.

Sick of her stepdaughter's manipulative tendencies, she told her she could stay home if she refused to attend the birthday dinner. However, Alicia argued that wasn't her point.

The teenager couldn't care less if she wasn't at the restaurant celebrating – her issue was with everyone being there, including her dad, as "family." To her, family meant herself and her parents.

After yet another argument, Jeff asked the woman to tell Morgan to choose another restaurant. Fed up, the woman said no and again reminded him that Alicia had no right to tell her where they could or couldn't go. She added that he shouldn't be encouraging the teenager's attitude.

Jeff insisted that he wasn't trying to encourage his daughter's attitude but was only trying to keep everyone satisfied. He went so far as to say that if Morgan chose not to change the restaurant, he wouldn't attend.

That threat was the last straw for the woman. She decided not to change the restaurant, and the celebration ended up with just Morgan, her mom, and her grandmother.

After everything, Morgan felt sad that her stepdad missed her birthday. However, when the woman told Jeff about it, he simply told her that she gained nothing by insisting on the restaurant and upsetting his daughter.

Jeff added that because of her insistence, she ruined his relationship with Morgan. Ultimately, the woman felt terrible for the situation her family was in.

"I just wanted to make Morgan feel like she has a say and right to spend her birthday however she wanted," she said at the end of her story.

What would you have done if you were in the woman's situation? Was she right to stand up for her daughter?

In a similar story, a woman baked her stepdaughter a cake only to throw it away right after. Click here to find out why.