Love may be sweeter the second time around, but once the bliss of a newfound relationship wears off a little, the reality of being part of a stepfamily sets in. If you are one of the millions of remarried Americans facing the challenge of blending two existing families into one cohesive whole, you are part of a stepcouple—and you know all too well how hard it can be to make your marriage work in sometimes tough terrain. Different parenting styles, finances, relationships with ex-spouses, legal matters, and even seemingly simple issues such as the kinds of chores assigned to children can chisel away at your union if you don’t always make your marriage a priority. Stepcoupling offers advice for stepcouples on how to do just that—all the while strengthening their blended family with a healthy marriage. Susan Wisdom and Jennifer Green provide tips and strategies on dealing with the issues remarried couples face, with a wealth of advice from real-life stepcouples, such as: * Learning to tailor your expectations of your spouse or children and remembering that no family is perfect * Knowing where your boundaries are, whether involving a hostile ex-spouse or a stepchild who demands too much attention * Realizing that traits like flexibility, tolerance, forgiveness, and openness are especially essential in a stepfamily situation * Making “us” time for talking, problem-solving, weekends away, and enjoying your marriage to constantly renew and strengthen your bond as a couple Let this invaluable remarriage manual help you make your stepcouple the foundation of a strong, happy, and successful stepfamily.

Starting a relationship with a new person is always an adventure, and that adventure comes with extra thrills when your significant other is also a parent. Not only do you have to incorporate one new person into your life; you have to welcome that personÆs children too. This guide will teach new and future stepparents how to: Meet and build relationships with potential stepchildren Handle situations involving the other biological parent Involve stepchildren in the wedding Be an involved stepparent without overstepping boundaries Make tough decisions about money, education, and more This comprehensive resource covers dozens of different situationsùfrom battling the wicked stepparent stereotype to mediating interactions between stepsiblings. Written by a licensed mental health counselor and experienced stepparent, this book will help future stepparents start off their new lives on the right foot.

An honest and groundbreaking guide to understanding the complicated emotions that develop between stepmothers and children. When faced with often overwhelming challenges, what woman with stepchildren is unfamiliar with that “stepmonster” feeling? Half of all women in the United States will live with or marry a man with children. To guide women new to this role—and empower those who are struggling with it—Wednesday Martin draws upon her own experience as a stepmother. She's frank about the harrowing process of becoming a stepmother, she considers the myths and realities of being married to a man with children, and she counteracts the cultural notion that stepmothers are solely responsible for the problems that often develop. Along the way, she interviews other stepmothers and stepchildren and offers up fascinating insights from literature, anthropology, psychology, and evolutionary biology that explain the little-understood realities of this unique parent-child relationship and—in an unexpected twist—shows why the myth of the Wicked Stepmother is the single best tool for understanding who real stepmothers are and how they feel.

You found the love of your life, and you vowed to have, to hold and to stepmother. You always thought that in time you'd grow to be the perfect, loving family. So why does it seem that the harder you try, the more unappreciated you feel? As a stepmother, therapist and founder of the popular Web site stepsforstepmothers.com, Dr. Rachelle Katz knows all too well how challenging stepmotherhood can be. Based on thousands of in-depth interviews and the latest research, she's created a powerful program to help you: * Alleviate stress and take care of yourself * Bond with your new family * Set and enforce clear boundaries * Get the respect you deserve * Strengthen your relationship

Blended Family Advice is step-by-step guide to help blended and stepfamilies navigate the rough areas in their marriage and family. The book focuses on three main areas: marriage, kids, and the outside world. Learn how to communicate with your ex-spouse successfully, create a sense of unity in your newly blended family, how to treat stepparents and stepsiblings, and how to create house rules and expectations in your new blended household. Shirley Cress Dudley uses her skills as a licensed professional counselor, and as a stepmom to help blended and step families learn how to become strong and successful. Blended Family Advice contains the keys to a successful blended family along with several bonus reports: a financial planner, creating successful blended family holidays, house hunting for the blended family, and a guide for grandparents. Blended families and stepfamilies will find this book to be a comprehensive resource and one that every stepfamily and blended family will need in their home. Visit The Blended and Step Family Resource Center http://www.TheBlendedandStepFamilyResourceCenter.com and http://www.BlendedFamilyAdvice.com for more information. Shirley Cress Dudley, MA LPC [email protected]

In a society where 1 in 4 marriages now end in divorce, the traditional model of the nuclear family unit has radically changed. A startling 1 in 10 families in the UK (the statistics are double this in the US) grow up as part of a step family. Yet this phenomenon is still hopelessly unchartered territory, where the image of the wicked step-mother still presides. Flora McEvedy could find nothing to help her when she became a step-mother at the age of 28 and the unique passion and energy of this book stems from her experiences. The Step-parents' Parachute will endow the reader with a body of instantly accumulated knowledge. Neatly organised, easy to use, practical and positive, this inspirational book will offer a path through a subject riven with negative assumptions and enable the transformation of the step-family into a happy, rewarding and stable family home.

Any parent who has helped to raise stepchildren knows that it may very well be the single greatest challenge of getting remarried. It's hard to know exactly how to handle the uncomfortable, unpredictable, and sometimes seemingly unmanageable situations that accompany the inauspicious title of stepparent. Finally, an easygoing handbook for in-the-dark stepparents is here in StepWiseo?=the no-nonsense, no-psychobabble, down-to-earth, practical, and funny guide to dealing with stepchildren in a friendly, sensible, sometimes funny way. Coauthors James Dale and his stepdaughter, Alex Schapiro, offer their insights in a unique, bite-sized format. One of the most important lessons of their experience is that you'll need your sense of humor, so they tackle this serious subject with levity. They realize raising stepchildren isn't world peace. It just sometimes seems as hard to achieve.----------------

In their practical and supportive book, Judy Ford and Anna Chase offer a helping hand and show how to transform a seemingly impossible situation into a relationship filled with love. "In the end," write the authors,"the labels mother, father, stepmother, stepfather matter less than the quality of our interactions with the young ones entrusted to our care."

Stepparenting Is Hard…but It Can Also Be Richly Rewarding Stepparenting can sometimes feel like an overwhelming and thankless challenge. Loving and caring for children who aren’t biologically yours means having to earn trust, establish authority, and often put your own needs aside in favor of your stepchild’s well-being or a birth parent’s wishes. But here’s the good news: With some expert guidance and God’s help, you can have tremendous influence in your stepchild’s life and grow in your faith along the way. Seasoned stepmom Laurie Polich Short understands and empathizes with the difficult job you face. Drawing on extensive research, biblical teaching, and her own real-life experience (including an insightful chapter cowritten with her stepson, Jordan), Laurie provides practical and spiritual advice to help you fully embrace and succeed in your role as stepparent. Whether you are about to become a stepparent or are further along on your journey, this compassionate and insightful resource offers the hope, help, and encouragement you’ve been looking for.

Discusses the problems and adjustments involved with a single-parent family and how to cope when a parent remarries.