Take this first bit of step parenting advice and appreciate the power of the birth family. Recognize that your spouse is probably always going to be closer to his children than yours. If you are constantly criticizing your spouse’s children, you are creating the beginning of the end. Someday, youRead More →
Dear EQ Coach: My husband and I have been together for 10 years. We have 4 kids, his and mine. I love his youngest one like she were mine, but the oldest one I just can’t stand. He’s favored her in the past, which irks me, and she’ll always doingRead More →
Early on in my stepfamily life I wanted to get on well with everyone, be happy, be energetic and be everyone’s friend – especially the children. For me, the desire to be accepted by them was significant. My stepchildren were then 3 and 9. The desire to be accepted wasRead More →
Step parenting brings its own special problems as the new step parent is often caught in the middle between the biological parent and the children. Just how much of a problem you will encounter depends upon a whole variety of factors, not the least of which will be the degreeRead More →
Step parenting has a high learning curve. A new parent comes in and suddenly needs to know all about raising children. On top of that, there are usually child custody issues going on that the step parent needs to be aware of and know about. This may be a lotRead More →
Do you ever feel torn between wanting your step-children to like you and knowing that you still need to have rules and discipline? Have you found that letting the biological parent handle all the discipline doesn’t work really well all the time. Blended families are becoming more and more commonRead More →
With the divorce and remarriage rate so high these days, there is a good chance that you just might find yourself a step parent. I’d like to offer some tips on being a step parent: Always remember that the child already has both a mom and a dad. Depending onRead More →
I constantly run across step families, or blended families if you prefer, who either have no idea what awaits them or their doors are blown off because they didn’t know it would be like this. They almost always say that it is so much more difficult than they imagined. HowRead More →
I am a step-parent and have been one for almost 24 years. When I married my husband he was the custodial parent of his twin sons who were 5 years old at the time. I didn’t have children of my own. Our first child came along when the boys wereRead More →
Parenting is one of the hardest jobs in the world. Step parenting, however, is a notch harder. A step family is commonly formed due to the death of a spouse or a failed marriage that ended up in divorce. Deaths and divorces are traumatic events not just for children butRead More →