Parenting Together

Step-families have unique challenges. It can be difficult to identify the roles you will fill when a stepparent comes into the family.

Week 1 Take your time and expect love and care to come slowly through shared experiences. It took time for you and your new spouse to love one another and it will take time for your spouse to build a relationship with your children too.

Week 2 Identify rules and roles and discuss them together. Make them clear so that children understand what is expected.

Week 3 Try to understand and identify your feelings about the stepparent's discipline style, and discuss any issues that you are uncomfortable with.

Week 4 Expect negotiation and conflict to be a part of everyday life in a stepfamily. As your family grows together over time, you will need to sit down together as a couple and then as a family and redefine expectations of you as parents and of the children.

Week 5 Sit down as a couple with your children and tell them they can like or love all the members of the family, including a stepparent, and still love and care about the absent parent.

Links
Stepping Stones for Stepfamilies