Showing posts with label step siblings. Show all posts
Showing posts with label step siblings. Show all posts

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Making Blended Family Home the Place to be

blended family
Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

It actually takes time to build a blended family since it requires also patience, information, understanding and a good plan. Knowing what you want for your blended family and understanding the challenges and pitfalls inherent the family life in order to achieve the best for your blended family goals.  Establishing positive connections between the step parents and step kids is one of the specific issues that make the blended family challenging.

Make certain you know and show support for the individual talents and interests of each family member. Praise effort as well as accomplishments; encourage creativity; celebrate differences. Work on your marital relationship so that your kids and step kids can learn how loving people deal with one another. Within your blended family, model conflict resolution; speak with considerate and kind words; deal immediately and effectively with disrespectful or abusive behavior, and keep arguments between you and your blended family partner fair and private. Develop a safe haven for children to grow in. People need acceptance, and your blended family home is the best and safest place for your kids to find it. Let your home be a place of unconditional love for everyone in your extended step family. Set aside at least an hour every day to spend with your blended family members. Take special care to set aside one-on-one time with bio kids at least once a week, to be sure your connection does not get lost in the mix.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

Reasonable Efforts for Step Moms in Blended Family

step family
Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

Most challenging jobs that women can have might be becoming a step mom. One of the people who is primarily responsible for managing the home is the blended family mother, which maintaining a loving relationship with her husband besides from looking after the step kids as well as her own biological children. Furthermore, she is also holding down an outside job. Therefore, she is in charge of everyone’s happiness.

Your ex-husband thinks threatened by the presence of your new husband in the life of his kids, and even in your life.  Both your step kids and your bio kids are battling in order to deal with their own feelings of their confusion, loss, and with the new step family dynamic. Becoming step siblings does not come naturally to either set of kids, and anger and resentment may be the only thing they have in mutual. Your in-laws, both present and past, are worried what your remarriage might mean regarding how often they get to see their grandkids, and how welcome they will be in the new step family setting.

There are many things included in the blended family that most step kids are having difficulties of. They normally suffer from their loss greatly and need guidance from their parents. Therefore, the love from your husband and remarriage will help you blended family to succeed and prosper. If you still don’t know where to begin, you can visit The Blended and Step Family Resource Center for more information.

Help Your Entire Blended Family by Putting Marriage First

blended family
Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

Nothing couldn’t handle together when you and your new love merged two families and understand the challenges that came with blended family. There are lots of eventualities that you want to come to fruition such as seeing your kids become friends as well as the step siblings. Ex-spouses would eventually see their step parents.

The step parents usually having a hard time with the truth that the ex-family is there to stay with its love one.  While they had doubted the presence of children, they really had no idea just how intrusive contact with the ex-spouse would feel. When both partners bring children to the blended family mix, intrusions and the resulting conflicting loyalties are doubled. Cementing a remarriage relationship becomes more difficult when it entails children from a first family. A blended family spouse without biological children must addressed contact, often daily contact, with his or her previous family. Furthermore, daily telephone calls and weekend visits with the kids, or having them live with you, are a continuous reminder of the ongoing commitment, as are usual and sometimes emotional phone calls from the ex-spouse done by your love one.

There are many things involved in a blended family and if you need blended family advice for your new family, you can consider visiting the website of The Blended and Step Family Resource Center. There are lots of things that might be going to your head regarding your step family.

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Challenges Comes with Step Parenting in a Blended Family

step parenting
Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

Love has something more when you love again since it includes more children to your family as a mix. You are surely interested about building new blended family but having doubt about your role as a step parent if you will be doing great as well as acceptance from the step kids. Although parents have a wonderful role, it also includes ups and downs in the process. Blending two families can be difficult but you can make it as long as you have built a loving and caring relationship with your step kids.

It can be intimidating sometimes when it comes to raising a child that is not biologically from you. Being a step parent, you might as well encounter the feeling of being an outsider. You may come across questioning yourself also about your confidence and competence when it comes to the step parent role. Most of the step kids may consider you as the reason why their parent will not be back together again and also being jealous to the time their parent spent with you. You and your step family will actually wonder if all things will get better with such setup. The ex-spouse of your new partner might as well be worries about your way on treating the children especially when it comes to the influence to their children. So if you want to understand more of the details about step parenting, consider visiting The Blended and Step Family Resource Center for more valuable info.

Blended Family Bonding to Create Atmosphere

blended family
Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
Bonding in a blended or step family
It takes planning, time and effort in order to create a happy blended family life. It takes also an environment that requires support for stimulation and respect to the growth of the family. Being the parent and considered as leader in a blended family group, two united families should always be one to have a happy family.

Kids basically like belonging to a family or team in a family. Therefore, it is important to consider attending sports games activities with your blended family children. This will allow you to show them that you love and support them very well.

You might as well look for fun activities that you whole blended family can enjoy such as joining or volunteering at a food kitchen event or cycling club. This will show it to your kids that you are committed to them as a parent in a blended family life. Also, sharing the photos from these memories will help to the bonding closer.

Some of the activities on sharing photos you can do are by asking your step kids were they are taken as well as names of their friends and relatives. This will allow you to get to know them better. Kids normally love photos of their parents as well as their step parents when they are younger. If you need help about your blended family or looking for advice, you can visit The Blended and Step Family Resource Center for more info.

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Making your Own Kids like their Step Siblings

blended family
Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

Your kids now have step siblings due to the decision of you and your new spouse to brought children into their blended family. Normally, the hardest aspects for the children when living in a blended family is how to get them together closer and live together. It might take time for the step siblings to adjust in the situation especially when it comes to bringing the loving way even to the groundwork that has been laid by you and your new spouse.

A good way to provide help to your own children is to brief them about the coming changes from the blended family and make them accept their new step family situations. Depending to the ages and development factors of the kids, you can tell them more about the situation of having step siblings. You might as well consider this by doing it regularly. Also, being open is important to encourage them to speak with their feelings about their coming new brothers and sisters, which you can ask questions then about their new life and new family. This is essential to let your children accept their step siblings as well as their new step family.

There are really lots of things you need to make in order to make the relationship of the blended family meaningful or make the flows of the relationship great. And if you don’t know how, you can contact The Blended and Step Family Resource Center to get the necessary information for your step family.

Saturday, October 20, 2012

About the Roles of Grandparents in Blended Family Occassions


step family
Grandparents are normally left swinging in breeze when their child divorces especially when there is a child left in non-custodial parent. Normally in such cases, they missed the conventional family celebrations such as birthdays, Christmas, thanksgiving, Hanukah and many other occasions.

Grandparents still have the same role in the new step family but will be bigger especially when the new spouse has children or kids and reentered remarriage with his or her son or daughter. The life will be more improved and useful tool in making wonderful and pleasant relationship with your step grandchildren. The benefits children will earn more from the loving and caring grandparents that is normally immeasurable. You can also help your grandchildren to adjust to the new step family by supporting them to their roles. The first step to do this is to accept the step siblings with open arms and open heart.

If you want to be welcome or make yourself feel welcome to the new blended family, you must treat every member as if they are real family. You need to consider treating the step kids also as fair from your heart and from your mind. Without doing this will put the relationship of them to you or yours to uncomfortable situation which will make it hard to adjust for all of you. If you don’t know how to begin, you can go to The Blended and Step Family Resource Center and obtain the best advice from the website.

Birthdays and Special Holidays Arrangements in Blended Family


You and your ex-spouse may agree to the parenting arrangement that covers your kids in terms of their birthdays and holidays. This is a great decision since you have a plan for your kids and without having such plan will surely results to disappointments from your kids or arguments to your ex-spouse.

Conflict-free celebration is one of the best gifts that you can give to your kids when it comes to celebrating special days with them. You might as well want to consider about adjustments to the plan every time it is needed and not sticking to the old one. In essence, do not take it personally when your kids wanted to celebrate holidays with your ex-spouse. Think about the benefits of the kids from it even if the day is actually scheduled for you. Therefore, it is important to consider celebrating with them at another time that is parallel like such situation.

If you remember the days when living as one family, it is more necessary to perform more planning with step family when you compared. It is essential to communicate often with your kids and to your ex-spouse to avoid disappointments because timetables that are unworkable or misunderstood may cause more problems.

If you want to know more information about blended family and celebrating birthdays or holidays with your kids, you can visit the Blended and Step Family Resource Center. You can also check the advice offered at the website that will surely be useful for your situations.

Saturday, October 13, 2012

About Step Parenting for Beginners

blended family
Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

If there is someone who is having a hard time adapting to the new roles in blended family, it is normally the step parents and step kids. This is true for the step parents since they wanted their selves to be fitted, be accepted and have a great impact to their step kids. However, they don’t usually know where to start the process. Well in case of the step kids, they normally refuse getting the offers from the step parents after experiencing a parent’s remarriage as it is complicated to their part. Well that makes sense since all approaches their step parents are being refused by them normally.

Your intentions as a step parent are very important to be at its best. You want mutual things between you and your step kids such as wanting to know them and letting them know you. You also want to be accepted to the circle of your spouse’s family with her children. You want to please them and make the blended family or new marriage works successfully.

To be straight forward, step children simple wanted to have things back to normal. Normally, step kids are acting unhappy due to their loss with their previous parent’s marriage and they show this on their lives and impressions to you.

If you think you need an advice about coping to this kind of situation in a blended family, you can do so by simply heading to The Blended and Step Family Resource Center. You can find useful info about step parenting for your step kids or step children.

Saturday, October 6, 2012

Getting Blended Family Ready for New Traditions on Holidays

blended family
Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

Blended Family holidays
If you and your new spouse are going to spend the first holiday season together, then congratulations! Normally, this kind of gatherings helps the family to give it a special meaning and to strengthen the bond. It is a good time to consider doing the traditional holiday you’ve been doing before with your new blended family. However, there are some who consider holidays as a conflict and time to hurt feelings. But giving priority to your blended family is a best step to do and makes the step meaningful for you and to them.

Old and new traditions are an important
Being a parent of you own kids, you know how important holidays that are traditionally done by you and them and this is more important when it comes to your new blended family. As their new step parent, you are happy to share your tradition with holidays but you might want to consider also the side of your step kids on their thoughts about holidays. The best way to make it a meaningful and efficient to improve the bonds of the blended family is to let the step kids share their thoughts as well. This will make the holiday celebration not just happy but improves the closeness of your biological kids with their step brothers or step sisters.

Should you need more details about celebrating holidays with blended family, consider asking for advice to The Blended and Step Family Resource Center. This way, your step family and your own family will have a happy time together.

Blended Family is Normal Nowadays

blended family
Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

Possibilities for a blended or step family to be normal
Blended family is becoming more and more usual nowadays. More step parents and new blended family partners as well are looking for helps and information from their challenges that they are undergoing. In the past, blended family relies on the normal nuclear family ways of running the system especially on how well they are doing. Due to the help of website who provide support for blended family, comparing the details between blended family and nuclear family is much easier.

Losses in the blended family
Normally, blended family evolves from a loss family that leads to remarriages. All people involved had experienced the loss of their nuclear family. The feelings they possess now it what will happen to them and why they deserve such situation to happen on them. This is the instability results from their loss.

Gains in your step family
The widowed or divorced parents who normally find someone who they can share their life are somewhat fortunate. There are many possibilities from this kind of situations where they begin again to fall in love and making plans for a future just like the first time they did. A blended family is however involves family combinations from the remarriages of the parents and step parents wherein they consider it as an advantage for their kids.

If you need help for your step kids or looking for information about blended family advice, you can visit The Blended and Step Family Resource Center.

Saturday, September 29, 2012

Discipline Standards for Transparency and Reliability in Blended Family


blended family
For blended family with step children and step siblings who have been raised, there are different parenting philosophies and clear cut standards together with expectations can be the saving graces. One of the many essential talks you and your new blended family spouse will be the individual styles of parenting in the step family situations being faced.

Blended family guidelines, boundaries and consequences
The new family dynamic is one of the several things of changes that is inherent when forming and managing a blended family. The usual rules and systems in the past implemented by single parent might not work well with the new blended family settings especially when the step kids expects to responds to different parenting styles or when step siblings of different ages, personalities and needs are included. The time for the two of you needs to discuss guidelines and boundaries for your kids and your new step family home, most likely before combining both families. This will help the new step parent an early pass on any blame with changes.

Planning
Planning the time with your new partner to discuss about the important things from both sides as parents makes the blended family works well. Some of the considerations are to know what both family likes and what they don’t. This is important to prevent conflicts between the two families joined together.

If you need advice for blended family especially for your step family, you can visit or contact The Blended and Step Family Resource Center.

Friday, September 21, 2012

Happily Ever After Never Comes Easy for Blended Family

blended family
Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

The difficulty of stepfamily living is what makes many blended family fall since they are not prepared. Most people believe that lessons learned from your first marriage are enough in order to succeed with the remarriage. If you are already a parent, you assume that figuring out how to be a good step parent would be easy. Well, happily ever after is not given to such relationship easily.

Reality strikes in the step family
Stepfamilies are not very much like first families in the reality for many blended family couples especially if unprepared. The time generally allows the couple to enjoy being together especially to the building process of the relationship, which is normally before the children arrives.

Be prepared in your remarriage
The smart blended family couples normally see the potential of problems and do not get blindsided by the assumptions according to the Brady Bunch reruns on TV. They study the concepts of blended families that are successful and work at their marriages. They also know to overcome problems that may arise to their relationship as well as to their kids and able to surpass it. This is important to them especially to their step kids that expecting the problems will be ideal and make things much easier to resolve.

Should you need more info about blended family, you can do so by heading to the website of The Blended and Step Family Resource Center. Check out the website today and get to know the concepts of remarriage that can help you.

Investing Communication for Relationship of Blended Family


blended family
Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
The odds are against the blended family especially if you and your wife has been married and then divorced with children. In the US, the rates of divorces are about 45 percent for first marriages, which is frightening enough. The divorce rate for a blended family is over 60 percent up to 70 percent for third marriage blended families.

How to avoid being included to those percentages? First you must understand that relationship needs effort and time. It is easy to take your partner but the one you cherish and love for granted. As time goes by, you forget to appreciate the things that were once special. You forget to take effort and time to do the little things he or she loved for you to do. You forgot to have sex as often and even let it become a routine event for both of you. You stop being grateful for everyday that you are both together. Making sure your relationship gets the care it deserves is vital to both of you especially for stressors of blended family life.

Communication is key in a step family

Why there are things that make the relationship fail, without having communications will make the situation more badly. The problem with blended family relationships is that they both believe they have been there and seen the disasters. Therefore, having communication with your spouse is important to make things work well. If you need more advice, you can visit The Blended and Step Family Resource Center.

Friday, September 14, 2012

About the Myths of Blended Family Life

blended family
Image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net

You’ve made a decision when you and your new partner decided to form a new blended family that is beneficial to the children partly. You will have to put several considerations to this kind of decision since you will be happier and secure in yourself as well as able to be more giving to your children, which in return the children will also be happier.

Whose choice is it?
Who chose to create the blended family and who decided that combining their lives with their new step parent and their kids was a great idea? Not you kids. By entering to this decision you are making a decision where the kids are going to blend with the universe since the person is not their usual parent. Therefore, there is no doubt that these step kids are not going to be well close with their new step parent.

Helping kids in a blended family cope
Acknowledging the feelings of your kids to cope with the new remarriage you bought into their lives is one of the best things you can to do them to help them. Talk and listen to your kids and let them express what they think about it. By doing this, you will make them also as an active listener in return. If you want your step kids to listen to you or to your partner, you will have to listen to them also.

Should you need more information about blended family, you can call or visit The Blended and Step Family Resource Center website.

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Struggles for Blended Family about Getting Along with Teenager and New Spouse



Since children needs to create themselves as competent individuals and must obtain independence, raising them is always a challenge for parent. This is the important drive also for children to establish control and learn the function of adult world with regards to making decisions on their own. Therefore, it is advisable to provide them the freedom to decide for their own sake to practice their skills and their love to the environment. Once there is a teenager in the house and we accept it, the place will be challenging but will get easier to the parents.

The teenage challenge for a blended family
For cases that we added a step parent or siblings and a new baby to the family, then we must expect the fact that raising a teenager will be a lot more challenging. The older step kid in the blended family is usually the hard one to accept a step parent and the new blended family mix. Therefore, accepting this fact will make the process a lot easier again. It is important that you don’t make judgment to the step kids especially when you’re a step parent who’s disagreeable for the kid. It is also important to have patience for every step they are going through regarding the new blended family adjustments.

If you need information or help about blended family related concerns, you can visit The Blended and Step Family Resource Center to get the advice needed for your situation.

Friday, August 31, 2012

Step Mother and Father are either superheroes or Villains in Blended Family


You are constantly being judged by the step kids of your spouse, by the relatives and friends who knew the ex-spouse if you’re a step parent in the blended family. The main reason is the main category of which you fall based from the scrutiny, the evil step mother and all that implies from it.

Ignore what you cannot change

Bear in mind if relatives and former friends of ex-spouse insist on finding you unsuitable from all you can execute in order to keep on being who you are and hope they will come around sooner or later. Face it that you are not oblige to endorse as a good step mother or father since you just simply take comfort in the strong relationship that you and your spouse have come together.

Blended family relationships that matters
Happily, young children tend to be flexible regarding whom they love and why, but adolescents are apt to be prickly at best and can be downright hateful at their worst. As a step parent, after those with your spouse and biological children, the relationships that matter are the ones you establish with your step kids. Several step children are just not expecting to like you or your presence in their lives very much, so your work is cut out for you.

If you want to know more of the details and looking for information about blended family, you can do so by heading to The Blended and Step Family Resource Center.

Friday, August 24, 2012

Not So Fun Rides and Emotional Rollercoasters with Blended Family



Sometimes you wonder what you did to deserve such disrespect and anger from your step kids. Maybe nothing if you think about it. The truth is that child found it hard to cope with blended family where many kids are facing difficulties to face this kind of situation in their life. They can’t understand sometimes the feeling of being overwhelmed, insecure or unstable and can’t express their feelings verbally in an efficient way. Therefore, the step parent in a blended family can be the easy target of this kind of situation and also aids to remember not to make any personal attacks.

Reacting to angry and disrespectful words

It is considered to be challenging for step parents facing this kind of situation but with proper listening, heart and eyes to the angry words being thrown to them, they can get used to the crux of their anger. Looking for deeper reason is a skill worth developing and if failure happens to the approach, then try another.

Outside counseling

It is appropriate for any type of abuse such as verbal to not be tolerated. Counseling can help in this kind of situation where step kids attacks step parents or throw hurtful words to the step siblings. Counseling is the appropriate way to overcome such situation that involves physical aggression or other types of violence. So every member of the blended family deserves to live in a household where in safety can be found. You can visit The Blended and Step Resource Center to obtain the best advice for your blended family needs

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Review, reassess and revise blended family management plan


Stop, look and listen in your stepfamily
image courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net
Take time to notice how well your step kids and you are getting along, and how well you know and appreciate each other. Listen. Is there laughter in your step family household? Do you hear conversation that indicates considerate and caring personal interest in other family members? Is there spontaneous group activity or discussion? Is your relationship with your bio kids thriving? Do you spend enough one-on-one time with them?

Blended family meetings
Blended family meetings are a great way to review events of the summer, recognize milestones and celebrate accomplishments. They are also an excellent opportunity to perform a review of the rules of the household and have discussions about how they might be improved. As blended family members grow and develop new interests and obligations, so do needs and expectations.

What is negotiable in a blended family?
Like many issues in our lives, some blended family issues are fixed and not open to discussion; such as your blended family requirement that everyone be treated with consideration and respect. Other issues that remain constant might refer to the parental management partnership which runs each blended family household; step kids are always expected to respond to the advice or reprimands of a step parent in the same way they would respond to their own bio parent. Some values are non-negotiable.

If you need any additional assistance, check out the resources at The Blended and Step Family Resource Center.


Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Co-parenting and joint custody in an extended blended family



A blended family has more members than we sometimes acknowledge, so it may be helpful now and then to take a renewed look at your extended family structure. A successful blended family makes accommodations with an ex-spouse and his or her new partner, and understanding how much they impact kids who spend time at their home in a joint custody arrangement.

Making co-parenting and joint custody work
An amicable co-parenting and joint custody partnership with your ex-spouse is one of the most important relationships you can cultivate. When both parents set aside their own personal issues and put them first, children gain a kind of stability and self-worth that is hard to match.

Co-parenting after a divorce and marriage
After your divorce and remarriage, the only relationship you have with your ex-spouse is that of co-parents of your children. It can help to begin thinking of the relationship as something completely new, something quite outside of you and your ex-spouse.

Co-parenting is the best option for your children
When you and your ex-spouse work together in cooperation for their benefit, your kids see that they are more important than whatever conflict ended the marriage. They can understand that your love for them will prevail, no matter what.

If your ex-spouse has also remarried
You deserve and expect consideration and respect for your role as a step parent to the biological children of your new blended family partner. Likewise, your consideration and respect for your ex-spouse’s new partner is called for, as well.

Enlist your partner’s help
Co-parenting with someone you wish you never had to see again is not easy, and it can sometimes take its toll in tension and exasperation. Keep personal issues with your ex-spouse away from your children and never, ever say negative things to them about your ex.

For more information on how to keep and strengthen your blended family, visit The Blended and Step Family Resource Center.