I'm a dad of an 8 year old boy and my son listens ro me about as much as his mother. His mother an u are no longer together. But she would swear he listens to me more because he idolises me. No. Everything is a struggle to get him to do what he is told. He's a good lad. But very defiant.

Alternatively. A female friend of mine was in a relationship for many years with another woman who had a biological son. The father wasn't completely out of the picture but he hardly ever saw the boy. The 2 woman and the boy where a family. And the boy respected both equally. The women are no longer a couple but I know my friend very much views the boy as a son as she helped raise him. And the boy very much loves her back deerly with a lot of respect equal to that of his biological mother.

There are standards but nothing is set in stone. Everything comes down to how you all love and treat each other.