Stepparents often have a bad reputation before they can prove that they’re capable of being a sufficient and loving parental figure. Normally, a child might hold some skepticism when a stranger joins their family, and that’s understandable. For whatever reason, one of the child’s biological parents is no longer in the picture, and they might assume that their new stepparent is trying to kick them out of their lives completely.

Believe it or not, many stepparents want to be an extension of the child’s existing guardianship. Looking at parenthood like it’s some black and white thing is a child’s first mistake… But can we blame them? Is there another person in their ear, feeding them game plays like they’re the head coach and it’s the NFL playoffs?

Even still, some children should know better than to rip guardianship away from their stepparents when they feel like it. When you consistently treat your stepparent like garbage despite their efforts to be a pillar of support for you, then you can’t get mad when they don’t want to assume a guardian-like role in your life.