biological mothers

Why Your Stepkids Hate You (and What to Do About It)
Newsletter

Why Your Step-kids Hate You (and What to Do About It)

Your step-kids are getting it from all sides, but they’re going to be taking it all out in one place: on you.

They have to deal with their mother’s venom, their father shirking responsibility, and discomfort caused by accommodating you as you enter their lives. In their eyes, you are new, you are strange, you are temporary, and you are disposable.

That can change with time. With some patience, empathy, and clear, consistent boundaries, your step-kids will grow to trust, connect with, and maybe even like you.

Mother's Day can get pretty crazy, as a stepmom...
Newsletter

Stepfamily Mother’s Day: Mommageddon

Mother’s Day day isn’t always smooth. It’s even rockier for stepfamilies. Biological moms rock the boat when feeling envy over stepmothers’ share of the children’s affection, or feeling threatened by the presence of another woman in their children’s lives. Meanwhile, stepmoms feel jilted out of their just desserts when something called “Mother’s Day” is primarily about someone other than them, despite their maternal role in their new family.

The bitter pill is that Mother’s Day is primarily about mothers. If both the bio and step moms in your family can share the day, then bravo: there’s no need to read the rest of this. For the rest of us, here’s a guide to being sensitive and understanding during a surprisingly tense holiday for stepfamilies.

Ghosts of Marriage Past
Newsletter

3 Ghosts of Marriage Past Sure to Plague Your Holidays

Millions of people all over the world are looking forward to the most festive time of the year. Remarried couples with children, on the other hand, hold their breath, hoping that this year the holidays will pass with minimal turbulence.

Unresolved grief, hostile exes, and your children’s fantasies collaborate to make this one of the most difficult times of the year for you, and here’s how.

How Sabotaging Bio Moms Haunts Step Moms
Newsletter

5 Ways Undermining Bio Moms Haunts Stepmoms

Joining a family is a tricky thing. You worry that you’ll be forever stuck on the outside, looking in. So, you want to please your husband and his children as best possible. This way you can solidify your role in the family, and bring stability into your life. If you’re particularly ambitious, you may even be out to heal your new family’s past wounds inflicted by the divorce or ex-wife.

You’re compelled to win everyone over. You won’t settle for “Step-Mom.” “No, call me ‘Super-Mom!’”

There are just a few teensy things in the way…

How Sabotaging Stepmoms Hurts Your Children
Newsletter

How Sabotaging Stepmoms Hurts Your Children

It’s unnerving watching your children spend more time with a competing mother figure than you. You feel inadequate, your judgement clouds, and you make knee-jerk reactions in protection of your cubs. You catch yourself making unkind remarks about your children’s stepmother and demanding your children’s unwavering loyalty.

What could go wrong? You’re just making life hard for her, right? Wrong.

Newsletter

5 Ways to Ruin Stepfamily Holidays

You may be wondering whether it’s possible to be any more stressed out with the upcoming holiday than you already are. It is. Here are 5 holiday killers and effective to beat them.

Newsletter

Inconsistent Parenting in Remarriage

Many men find themselves spending much more time with their stepchildren than with their biological children, simply because of their custody agreements. Fathers see their biological children’s stay with them as visits, rather than “living with them,” so they treat them like VIP guests and set fewer limits and looser behavioral expectations.

These double standards drive a wedge between the couple, confuse the children, and foster resentment all around. Here’s how to handle them.

Newsletter

Tips for Applying Your New Year’s Resolutions

Another year went by. You may feel the anguish of yet more missed opportunities to last year’s resolutions for a more peaceful and fun stepfamily experience. If you do, you are not alone. Many step-families share your pain. You can make a difference in this coming year. Implement these 6 easy tips and you’ll experience a difference in how you connect with your step-family.

Scroll to Top