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Read other letters about this article
I too am amazed at how a person simply trying to be honest about her darker emotions gets pounced upon. Don't we all have our "emotionally incorrect" thoughts to struggle with each day?
But here's a perspective that may also help this woman come to grips with the fact that she must, MUST, find a way to be kind and loving to her stepkids. If the situation continues, the biological daughter will eventually pick up on the very different treatment she receives from her mother as compared with her stepbrothers, and this could confuse her and mess her up in all sorts of ways. Even among natural siblings, it can create tremendous and life-long self-esteem issues when parents play favorites--and not just for the one who was least favorite! The "favored one" will always carry a residual, deeply buried guilt at having received special treatment for no apparent reason. True, the secret guilt may manifest itself through arrogance, brattiness, and a lifelong sense of entitlement, but that's hardly a healthy dialectic to be playing out, day after day.
