Its like everything, there are variables and life ain't black and white. I kind of played the step daddy role but with 1 major change: The kids weren't my wife's actual kids. My wife basically raised her twin brothers since she was 11 when they were born and her mom was...not capable. So she was basically their mama until they were 4 or 5. Long story short they were with their bio mom in some rough spots until we gained custody about a year after we got married when they were about to be sophomores in HS. I got the full experience of being the father/authority figure when there was a pre-existing parent/child relationship and dealing with my wife's at times motherly protective instincts when I had to get manly with them and all those other things but I didn't have to deal with a baby daddy (who they never met anyway) or even the 'my wife had kids with another man' stuff.
So I fully respect cats that willingly enter into that situation because it is in no way, shape or form easy to not only develop the relationship with the kid but to also navigate it with the woman to the point where you are seen and treated as not just the father but an equal partner with equal say in ALL things related to the kid (or, as in my home, the one that is to make the final decision as the head of the home). Not only that but if you then have other kids the whole treating them the same thing.
All that said, the other part of me still
at cats when they lock down women who ran around free and loose with other nikkas and got knocked up only to have you come and
them