by admin | Stress Management
My husband, Dave, is a mother hen. Well, perhaps he would prefer the term father rooster. In any case, he and I have very different ways of managing parenting stress. When it comes to worrying about the every day stuff — the stuff that is typically attributed to the...
by admin | Teens and Tweens
Talking about sex is not how I envision starting my morning. Well, talking about sex with my 10-year old son is not how I envision the start of the day, anyway. And yet… It was an idyllic morning. The coffee was particularly strong and delicious, the sleep the night...
by Shadra Bruce | Stepparenting
The holidays are coming, sooner than later at this point. We start thinking about Christmas shopping around the time the fireworks stop exploding. It’s the only way to budget with five kids. Holidays can be a wonderful time of year, but for blended families,...
by Shadra Bruce | Stepparenting
My aunt and I have been through similar situations. Her dad and mine both lost their wives (our mothers) too soon. Her dad and mine have both remarried. We are both suddenly being thrust into the world of being adult stepchildren, and having having both been on the...
by Shadra Bruce | Stepparenting
Have you ever had someone discount your role in your children’s life because they’ve just discovered that you are “only” a stepparent? How did that make you feel? Having people discount your contribution to the family simply because you did not...
by Shadra Bruce | Stepparenting
I get a lot of email from women telling me heart-breaking stories about not really wanting to be step moms. If you are thinking about marrying a man with children, please consider carefully the following information. There are real differences between dads who only...
by Shadra Bruce | Stepparenting
Our oldest son, Derek, was 10 years old when I started filling the mom role for him. Dave and his first wife had been divorced for over a year and apart for nearly two, and Dave had full-time physical custody of the kids. The kids rarely saw their “real” mom. I filled...
by Shadra Bruce | Stepparenting
Getting Real with Shadra Bruce You don’t have to be a masochist to make a good stepparent. While it’s true that step parenting includes some painful moments, it is possible to enjoy it. As a stepmom of three for more than a decade, I can honestly say that...
by Shadra Bruce | Stepparenting
Building self-esteem is not typically a topic gets a lot of attention on a parenting site, but I’ve discovered, through my own experience with my children and through reading emails and having conversations with other stepmoms, that self-esteem, particularly...
by Shadra Bruce | Stepparenting
I’m a stepmom and have been a stepparenting and blended family specialist for so long that I tend to talk about and think about everything from a stepmom’s perspective. I suppose that’s only natural; I write what I know, what I experience. However,...
by Shadra Bruce | Stepparenting
When I first began dating my husband and things were getting serious, I started doing the math. He had a 10-year old son and 6-year old twins, so I had about 12 years of stepparenting ahead of me. I was wondering to myself whether or not I could handle it. I hadn’t...
by Shadra Bruce | Stepparenting
Cinderella probably had the most famous stepmother of all time. Wicked and cruel, she did everything she could to keep Cinderella from marrying the handsome prince and living happily ever after. Why Cinderella’s father married her in the first place is something...
by Shadra Bruce | Stepparenting
Getting Real With Shadra Bruce I am a step mom. I “stepped” into an already-formed family, with children who already had a mother, albeit an absent one. I was only 15 years old and in high school when Derek, my oldest stepson, was born in Germany to...
by admin | Stress Management
Two years ago, my family and I loaded up a big moving truck, packed our van with suitcases, snacks, and maps, and headed from Boise, Idaho to Bath, New York. It was the second time we’d made the trip. Dave and I met and married in Boise. Our son was born there....
by Shadra Bruce | Stepparenting
I have never been able to understand the choices my stepchildren’s biological mother made concerning them. She gave up her custody; she stayed away from the kids even when she could have been with them; she has never kept in touch with them or made them feel...
