Fury As Grandparents Exclude Stepchild From Family Photo: 'No Connection'

The internet has slammed a woman for asking for a photo of her grandchild without the baby's half-brother included as they "don't class him as a grandchild."

Statistics show that 40 percent of married couples with children in the U.S. are stepcouples, meaning that at least one partner has a child from a previous relationship.

Similarly, an estimated 113.6 million Americans have a steprelationship of some kind.

In the controversial post on the popular discussion site Mumsnet, user Sar69 explained her story and wrote: "Why do I feel so guilty? It's my husband's 50th birthday soon and for a nice idea from all his grandkids I've asked parents to send pictures of the grandkids to me to have a drawn picture of all of them together."

The grandmother explained that her stepdaughter had just had a baby, and had been in her life for 18 years. "I love her to pieces," she wrote. "She has been with [her] partner for two years and he has a son from a previous relationship. In this time we have only ever seen him a handful of times so we really have no connection with him."

Issues had arisen when the grandmother asked for a picture of their new 8-week-old grandchild, but the stepdaughter sent a picture of both the new baby and his big brother.

"We don't leave him out at Christmas, Easter, or birthdays," explained the Mumsnet user. "We always buy for him as he is a part of my stepdaughter's life, but we don't class him as a grandchild."

Despite the fact her stepdaughter did send some pictures of the baby alone, the addition of a picture of the brother had stumped the woman. "I didn't want to upset her but I did have to say it was only a picture of baby we wanted," she explained, before asking: "Am I being unreasonable to say this to her, or should we have added him on as well even though he is nothing to do with us?"

But in the replies, Mumsnet users were quick to slam the woman for excluding the other child.

One commenter said: "Include him. What's the harm? Think how hurt your stepdaughter and partner will be if they see that hanging on the wall and the son is excluded."

"Why risk hurting your stepdaughter and her family?" said another commenter. "Just include him."

Another Mumsnet user said: "Open your heart. Include that little boy in the picture."

"You don't have to love him like a grandchild, or even see him as a grandchild but it doesn't seem right to exclude him from this," said another reply. "It doesn't hurt you and it would be a nice thing to do for your stepdaughter and her partner."

Newsweek was not able to verify the details of the case.