A woman was backed online as she shared in a social media post that she’d left her husband after he demanded she care for her stepdaughter’s baby.
“[My husband] has a daughter, Leah. His wife died when she was 10-years-old and I met him when she was 15,” the woman opened up on Reddit. She went on to share that the now 25-year-old Leah had gotten pregnant last year, but that the baby’s father broke up with her after he found out that she would be keeping the child.
“Leah moved back in with us because she could not afford her lifestyle without him,” she wrote. “She worked as a teacher and he was the bread winner. I had concerns about how she was going to raise a child on a teacher’s salary by herself. I suggested getting him to pay child support.
“Once she had the baby, Leah seemed to realize that having a baby is not the sunshine and rainbows she thought it was, and now her leave is ending. She did not want to leave the baby at daycare or with a nanny,” she added.
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The woman then revealed that Leah had asked if she could quit working for a while and stay at home to look after the baby instead, and that when she’d declined her husband stepped in to insist she do as Leah asked.
“Both of them are pressuring me to stay home with baby so that she can go to work. I am standing firm on my decision. Leah said that I don’t love her and my husband is also mad at me,” the woman concluded.
Dr. Carole Lieberman, a forensic psychiatrist based in the U.S., told Newsweek that the Redditor should not be pressured into staying at home and caring for Leah’s baby, and that she should stand firm in her decision.
“Leah had a very unrealistic view of what life with a baby would be like,” Dr. Lieberman said. “Her stepmother should not be guilted into staying home and caring for her baby. If she doesn’t want to stay at home, then she can work and pay for a nanny or daycare like countless other mothers do. The woman should not have to pay for her mistakes, nor indulge her sense of entitlement.”
What Do the Comments Say?
Since it was shared to the social media platform on September 24, the Reddit post has been upvoted by 95 percent of users and commented on more than 3,000 times. The majority of the Redditors engaging with the post have been supportive of the woman.
“I can 100% guarantee you her late mother would agree with this,” one user wrote.
Another user added: “She should tell her husband to knock it off and stop trying to pressure her into raising his daughter’s baby. If he wants a family member to look after her baby while she works, then he can do it.”
The Reddit post can be seen here.
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