BM is weird… (Vent)
This year, we took SS to his first day of school, so SS picked out a backpack and SS handmade some of the keychains himself and chose exactly where he wanted them to go.
He goes to BM’s and comes back sad because she moved the keychains he placed there. Apparently, she told him that it was “their house’s zipper” and put “their” keychains on it. SS told her he didn’t want to move his keychains he made, and she doubled down that it was “their” zipper.
What the actual fuckkk? Who makes a territorial claim on a damn zipper?
We tried to reassure him that it’s his backpack and he can decorate it however he wants, but now he’s all anxious over that zipper. And that’s the part that angers me. A kid should not be worried about whether a backpack zipper belongs to Mom’s house or Dad’s house.
For context, our two houses could not be more different, all the way down to the most minuscule things. However, we let him be a kid, whereas BM is very forceful about pushing her values and beliefs onto SS. She has even told SS and SO that she’s the “main” family. We have 50/50, but even if it weren’t, that wouldn’t make one household any more or less of a family.
We’ve dealt with other control issues from BM, but this one just feels so weird. I hate that even something so small has become a source of anxiety for SS.