Articles for Stepmoms

Must-Read Articles for Stepmoms

1. 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.

2. When Being a Nice Stepmother Is Not Enough: 7 Steps to Enjoying Your Stepchild’s Graduation

   Stepfamilies facing life's milestones, like graduation, experience a great deal of anxiety. It's made worse when the relationship between two households is challenged due to an insecure parent feeling threatened by a stepparent. Your goal is to celebrate the occasion.

   Consider the following steps to help you and your stepfamily enjoy your child's graduation celebration.

3. 7 Practical Tips for Stepmothers

   "I am at my wits end. I didn’t know that being a stepmother is going to be so frustrating!" said a 39 year-old, successful, professional woman. "At work, everyone respects me and likes me, but at home I feel like an obstacle to my stepchildren in their relationship with their father." If you can relate to this stepmother’s frustration, you may have asked yourself many times over why your stepchildren can’t just see you for who you really are: a nice, loving woman who wants peace and love in her home. You may also wonder what you need to do in order to get noticed and cherished by your husband. Perhaps you wonder if you can ever succeed in this unclear role.

   The following tips will hopefully help you turn a corner with your stepchildren and your husband, so you walk the path to desired harmony in your home.

4. Tips for a Smooth Transition Into the Stepfamily

   Stepmom wrote to Parenting Magazine, The man I am marrying has two young children from a previous marriage. I will become “stepmom” soon. What suggestions do you have for a smooth transition? I want to nurture a healthy relationship with my soon-to-be husband’s children, but I also want to respect their relationship with their mother, [...]

5. Tips for Nurturing the Couple’s Relationship

   I wonder if you remember when you met your significant other—your feelings, hopes, and wishes as your relationship evolved. You made arrangements for the children, setting aside adult time together. Then, you got married. The adult time turned into a fantasy and a remote memory. A strong couple creates a strong and stable family. It [...]

6. Tips for Women in Stepfamilies

   Women are expected to be the emotional core of their families. In stepfamilies the expectation is the same. For stepmothers however, it is an unrealistic expectation, at least for a year to a year and a half. Here are some tips to help you improve and solidify your role as a wife, mother, and/or stepmother: [...]