My stepfather cannot stand me

Dear Pastor,

I am 16 years old and my stepfather is giving me a fight. He is married to my mother, but this man does not like me at all.

I have been living here with them from I was eight years old. My aunt used to live with us. Both my mother and my aunt are teachers. From the time my mother took me from my grandmother and brought me to live in this house, my stepfather has shown an interest in me. He began by questioning me, and every question he asked me, I told my mother. I know my father, but he has not supported me. My mother never wanted me to have anything to do with my father because when he got her pregnant, he told his parents that I was not his child. He also told my mother that she should go and find my father. So my older sister has helped my mother. My father told my mother to leave him alone.

From I was a little girl, my mother told me not to take anything from my stepfather. He likes to chat a lot and he has taken news about me to my mother. I do not have a boyfriend, but anytime my stepfather sees a young man talking to me, he reports me to my mother. I am sick and tired of this man. He behaves like a girl. He has two children with two different women, and he cannot control them, but he wants to control me. Furthermore, I am not his child. I can't stand the man. He is a teacher also, but at his school, the children can't stand him. I am glad I don't attend that school. He says that my mother has caused me to get away with many things and I am behaving like a big woman.

T.S.

Dear T.S.,

Your stepfather and you are not getting along. Evidently you don't like him and he doesn't like you.

But I do want to say to you, remember that he is your stepfather and your mother would not want you to say bad things about him. So try your very best to listen and to be respectful to him at all times. Your mother is aware that he does not like you, so she would do her best to protect you. Work hard in school. Very soon you would be on your own. I wish you well.

Pastor