You are absolutely correct in your assessment of who thinks they have it harder. Love the dogfight football analogy.

The context I forgot to add is that those breaks that I get are eaten up quickly because my partner always tells me how much her son needs me to be there more as a father figure since he doesn’t have his bio-dad.

The mental hurdle of letting go of my daughter every week at a hand-off and switching right back to being dad is emotionally exhausting.

Maybe you’re onto something with the parenting and step-parenting roles. I’ll bring this up with my partner. Her response will probably be that she is a step-parent to my daughter, but that I need to be a full parent to my step-son.

Thanks for your thoughts and insights!