Hey @Carrisal23 welcome to the ReachOut forums!  It sounds like you're pretty concerned about your stepson, he is very lucky to have you  There are a couple of articles on the ReachOut site that you might find helpful like this one about blended families or this one about rules in a blended family, they do refer to teens a bit BUT you could give it a try and see if anything stands out for you  There's also this one about being the ultimate step-parent that talks a bit about finding things that you can both do together. It sounds like you've tried to discuss the topic with his father too which is awesome that you're opening the lines of communication between you both to come up with a solution! However not so awesome and pretty frustrating that he thinks you are overreacting, has this been his only response when you've brought it up? Jumping back to the finding things to do together - are there any activities he enjoys that you could make a plan to do together? Making a plan to do something fun and enjoyable together might even be a way to help enforce chores, for example if he completes his chores the fun plans are a go and if he doesn't they are put on hold until he completes them? Making chores a joint family activity might be another approach, I remember as a child my parents would do the dishes with me eg I would wash the dishes as one of them dried them or visa versa. I would flat out refuse to do my chores and my father would say something like "come on it'll be done in no time if we do it together then we can watch blah blah on the tv together". I remember things like gardening, washing the car, setting the table were all done the same way together which made them kinda fun, do you think taking a similar approach would work with you guys? Let us know how you're going!  ... View more