Woman Gets Upset Whenever Her Children Refer To Their Stepfather As "Dad"

Labels are extremely important for some people; they believe that the proper label will bring them respect, but that's not always necessarily true. If your behavior does not align with your label, people will not perceive you that way, and the label loses all meaning in the end.

Family is about so much more than blood. It's never what or who you think it is, but life works in mysterious ways and always finds a way to surprise you. Anyone can make a baby and earn the title of father or mother, but not everyone ensures they exercise their parental duties and take care of that baby in every aspect.

When it comes to labels, children often choose them based on their changing emotional attachments and loyalties. For instance, if one of the parents is out of the picture and a stepparent takes over their duties, children will start to feel more comfortable calling them "Mom" or "Dad".

Reddit user u/steproblems loves his stepchildren as his own kids, so he even refers to them as his own kids sometimes. His wife doesn't like that at all, as she believes it is disrespectful to the biological father (who's not even in the picture).

Here's the original Reddit post by u/steproblems:

Reddit

The wife even asked OP to correct them if they ever call him Dad.

Reddit

The kids are having none of it.

Reddit

OP ended up confronting his wife about it.

Reddit

The biological father isn't even in the picture.

Reddit

Here's how the Reddit community reacted to u/steproblems's dilemma:

Reddit

If anything, it is a compliment.

Reddit

Fatherhood doesn't necessarily mean being the child's true biological father.

Reddit

He does much more for the kids than their real dad.

Reddit

He clearly earned that title.

Reddit

She has more respect for an absent father than for her husband.

Reddit

They alone can choose who they want their dad to be.

Reddit

Blood doesn't make family; love does.

Reddit

You can tell that the children have a lot of love for him.

Reddit

There’s a difference between father, stepfather, and dad.

Reddit

If he gets replaced after being a deadbeat father, it's on him.

Reddit

They claimed OP as their dad, and the mom should allow it.

Reddit

A kid can have more than one dad.

Reddit

She turned something extremely positive into a negative.

Reddit

She has assigned herself way too much power.

Reddit

Why does she have so much loyalty to this man?

Reddit

She only wants OP to fulfill some roles but not all of them.

Reddit

As long as he says it with love, it shouldn't matter.

Reddit

She didn't care about her children's feelings either.

Reddit

The wife's expectations are completely unrealistic.

Reddit

OP replied to the previous comment and clarified some matters further.

Reddit

OP should totally adopt them in the future!

Reddit

The poor kids are used to rejection from their bio dad.

Reddit Reddit

It's her fault that they're acting that way.

Reddit

She needs to accept it sooner or later.

Reddit

OP's wife seems to have an unreasonable amount of loyalty to her ex-partner because, despite being out of the picture, she still ensures that he's never disrespected in the slightest. He doesn't even bother to visit his kids, so he doesn't deserve to be referred to as a "dad".

OP is definitely NTA this time. He's a great husband and father who's doing everything as he should. His wife, on the other hand, needs to sort her feelings out and understand that her kids want things to be this way.