Submitted by [deleted] t3_11ppidk in relationship_advice
I (32M) have been married with Rose (40F) for 4 years and we dated for 2 before that. Rose has a daughter, Lola, she is 9. Her father, John (42M) is quite present in her life and is a good dad ( he lives 2 hours away due to his work but he spend a lot of time with her during the weekends, holidays, they video chat a lot, he comes to all her school plays, sport events etc etc).
When I started dating Rose, I didn't know what my relationship with Lola would be. I have had both a step-mother and a step-father so I know these kind of relationships can get bad easily, so I tried to do my best. I played with her, listened to her whenever she wanted to talk, helped if she needed help and I didn't set any rule but made sure she followed Rose's rules. In the past 6 years, we bonded.
Something happened yesterday: she aced a math test (the only full score in the whole class. Am I allowed to be proud of her? I will be anyway). I wanted to reward her and she wanted an ice cream, so we went to the ice cream shop. When I gave her the ice cream, she said "thank you, dad" and rushed back in the car. I was stunned. I didn't know how to react. She never called me dad, she normally call me by my name or nickname. She seemed to not realize she had done it so I acted normally and brought her back home and we celebrated with Rose.
I don't know what I should do if she calls me dad again. I'm happy about it, don't misunderstand me. I love her as if she was my own daughter but she already has a father and they love each other a lot and I think he wouldn't like hearing her call someone else "dad". Should I tell her something? What?
TLDR: my step-daughter suddenly called me dad and I don't know how I should react.