Tag Archive for: stepparenting

145: When Should a Stepmom Discipline Her Stepkids? | April Eldemire, LMFT

When should a stepmom discipline the stepkids? It’s one of those questions that can turn into a full-blown argument inside a blended family before anyone even realizes what happened. Maybe your partner expects you to step in more. Maybe…

144: What Actually Makes a Blended Family Work? What the Research Says

How to Make a Blended Family Work, According to Decades of Stepfamily Research What if some of the things you’ve been told a blended family should look like are actually making things harder? If you’ve ever searched for how to make…

142: 5 Tips for New Stepmoms I Wish I Knew From Day One

5 Tips for New Stepmoms I Wish I Knew From Day One If you’re a new stepmom trying incredibly hard to get this role right, here’s one of the most important things I can tell you: Trying harder isn’t always the answer. I learned…

140: What Stepmoms Can Learn From an Adult Stepdaughter | Robin Breuner

What does your stepchild actually need from you, even if they cannot put it into words? The stepmom and stepchild relationship can be one of the hardest parts of blended family life to navigate. A stepmom may be trying desperately to connect…

The Passionate Stepmom Is Not Made, She’s Built

I’m a mom and a stepmom. I know both jobs are two of the hardest, sometimes most thankless jobs on the planet. But one of those roles has been more of a personal challenge for me than the other. Can you guess which one it is? Yup…
young frustrated woman screaming with closed eyes

The Ugly Truth About The Ex

When I came in to this stepmum gig, I thought I was pretty well prepared. I was a stepchild myself, had successfully navigated the relationship with my kids then stepmum…how hard could it be? Harder than I could ever have imagined. Like…
Big Family

What is the Role of a Stepparent? Redefining Parenting — One Step At A Time

Stepparents have been around for a long time. They’ve stepped in, stepped up, and they have patiently allowed themselves to be painted into the background on many occasions. There are stories of wicked stepmothers both in real life and…
Stepmum Drawing a Heart in the Sand

Journey to a Happy Heart

I once asked the question on social media what words people associate with stepfamily, stepmom and step kids. It is incredible to me the number of negative word associations with these phrases. Words came up like the other, difficult, adjustment,…
Mother and Daughter

‘I Don’t Have A Stepmom’

My daughter and I were cuddled up on the couch watching something together. Somehow, the subject of her brother came up and how I was his stepmom. No big deal. But then she turned to me and said, ‘Well, you are his stepmom. But I don’t…
Stepmum smiling

4 Traits of Highly Effective Stepmoms

1. Self-Awareness It’s healthy for every person and parent out there to have developed a generous sense of self-awareness, but for a stepmom, it can be particularly useful. No matter what your situation as a stepmom is, whether it’s…

Why Stepmums Get Jealous & Insecure in the Most Stable Relationships

You’re not weak or silly for feeling unsettled in your relationship when your partner’s past is so present in your home and family. It’s not weird to feel grossed out by anything that suggests previous intimacy. It’s not wrong to feel sad that our first experience of having a child with our partner is not their first experience.
photo of mother working at home

4 Simple Questions To Help Kids Change Their Behaviour

If we notice positive behaviour and comment on it, the positive behaviour will be repeated as long as we keep commenting on it and rewarding the child with positive attention. If we consistently comment on negative behaviour, we are inadvertently rewarding the child with attention. They will repeat this behaviour as long as we keep giving them attention for it.
girl holding string lights

How to Show Your Kids It’s Okay to Be Queer

So many of us instill the “straight” mentality, or heteronormativity rather, in little everyday moments that we don’t even realize we’re establishing norms and expectations that make our kids assume they’re straight, cis kids living in a straight, cis world, and that everything else is different. There are a few ways you, as parents, can incorporate an inclusion state of mind into your kids’ everyday life, regardless of whether or not anyone in your family is queer. The biggest piece of advice I can give other parents who want to make an effort to normalize queerness is to try not never assume heterosexuality.
Couple Holding Hands

A Stepmom’s Guide to Being a Supportive Partner

It is easy to be a loving, supportive and kind partner when you are comfortable with how things are going. It’s easy to feel safe and secure when your partner is making parenting decisions that are in alignment with your values.…
Introverted Stepmum

Tips for the Introverted Stepparent

There are many stepparents struggling to fit in and find peace in their families, not because they don’t get along with their stepchildren, but because they’re introverts in a family of extroverts.  And introverts and extroverts often…