I've been in a messy relationship with a man who has a 6yr old son.    When we met, we were both in other relationships. We were friends who navigated our breakups separately (both of us leaving for our own reasons, not for each other).    He is in the final stages of separation which i've been waiting for anxiously, but suddenly reality has swooped in and I find myself terrified.    Despite having a large family and extensive experience living with and helping to raise children, I've never experienced a step-parent dynamic before. Reading through the subreddit 'stepparents' has left me shellshocked after seeing thousands of people all saying how much they regret letting themselves be in that situation. The primary message seems to be how the bad outweighs the good.   The concensus seems to be the thanklessness of a role where you have all the negatives of child rearing (primarily living your life around the bio-mother's schedule), but almost none of the positives.      ... View more