Becoming part of a step family is difficult enough for all involved be it children or adults, Richard Snr hasn’t made it easy with his aggression towards Richie and the way he treats him, as the adult he should know better but he doesn’t show it he should have sat Richie, Andrew and Melinda down and explained what was happening and why he left their mother before he moved the new family into his house, anyone who marries a person with children from a previous marriage should be prepared to accept that their new partner’s children may have to come and live with them at some stage and if they are not prepared for that to happen then they shouldn’t be in a relationship with that person, children need time to adjust to the situation and they should be able to talk to their own parent about the situation without judgment or anything else. Freddy, Andrew, Melinda and Harley are trying to make the most out of a difficult situation that they probably don’t understand and haven’t been told what is happening, Richard and Linda are the adults in this situation and they should be adult and talk to the children so that they understand what is happening and why this should include Richie.
If my father and his second wife had done this with myself and my sister and her 3 children things might have been different for us, but that never happened and we were all pushed together in her house and expected to get along with each other even though I only lived with them for a short period of time I can understand this situation completely.