One of the things I see step-moms struggle with over and over is feeling jealous and insecure when it comes to the ex. We know in our heads it doesn’t make sense. We know in our hearts our men love us. We know that our men chose us day after […]
I understand you are not in an easy position. I understand that, if things were different, you would have hoped your first family, your biologic family, was intact and not broken. But sometimes we can not mend the wounds or close the distance and a restart is needed. I’m here to tell […]
A marriage that brings with it children from a previous marriage presents many challenges. According to Dr. Patricia L. Papernow, these challenges go through a Seven Stage Model of Stepfamily Development. My husband and I are eight years into our stepfamily, and I can honestly say that we have just […]
Coming into my role as a second wife to the love of my life was no easy feat. It’s as if everywhere I turned there was another reminder of his former life, of the woman he loved before me. It was inescapable, perpetual torture. I wanted to surprise his mom […]
I was in a really bad place. The slightest mention of the family he had before me sent me into turmoil and agony. I didn’t understand why I couldn’t come first. Why I couldn’t be his only. I loved his daughter, and logically, I understood that without his first wife, […]
Stepparents and their stepkids are often known to butt heads or be in conflict with one another. To many stepparents, the rejection or negative attitude directed at them by their partner’s children is perplexing and hurtful because they labor, to no avail, an effort to build an amicable relationship. What […]
Becoming a stepparent is one of the hardest things I have ever done. It was never in my plan. In fact, it was quite literally a check in a “no” column when it came to my dating preferences. I had been through hell and back with my own broken […]
