|
Stepfamily Articles -
Christian Stepfamilies
|
 Below are some additional thoughts to support and encourage healthy stepfamily relationships.
Acknowledge
the absent parent. When one of the original parents is absent, the
children need a special kind of understanding. An absent parent (who
has died or who lives elsewhere and doesnt visit) is part of
a childs past. The child must be allowed to have memories of
this parent. The children who have access to both of their parents are
those who adjust the best to divorce. They should be allowed to
regularly speak with, visit and write to their non-custodial parent.
|
|
|
Stepfamily Articles -
Stepfamily Articles
|
Written by Christine Webber, psychotherapist and Dr David Delvin, GP and family planning specialist
Stepfamilies
are very common nowadays. In fact it's been calculated that 18 million
people in the UK are part of a stepfamily in some way or another.
That's an awful lot of us.
And yet, most of us were not
brought up in stepfamilies, so we don't know much about them.
Furthermore, I doubt if many of us had any ambition to be a step-parent
- and we've definitely had no training. Small wonder then that a lot of
people today find the whole stepfamily set up very difficult.
read more
|
|
|
Stepfamily Articles -
Stepfamily Articles
|
Stepfamilies Help Children Adjust to Stepfamily Life
Adults
should avoid having arguments in front of the children and
stepchildren. Children often feel they cause arguments. They may fear
losing contact with a biological parent. They may worry that their
stepparent and biological parent will divorce.
|
|
|
Stepfamily Articles -
Stepfamily Articles
|
THE DO'S
- Be proactive, not reactive.
- Give the kids as much time as they need (within reason) to adjust to the new stepfamily life.
- Communicate openly. and honestly.
- Honesty will never come back to haunt you.
- Have a weekly family "business" meeting.
- Make
sure to discuss issues and discuss your family's emotional needs, also
decide as a family how they'll be resolved and met.
- Try
very hard to use "I" statements, such as: "I'm feeling a little...,"
rather than: "You always see it ..." As a stepmom, encourage and foster
the relationship between father and child when possible.
- Make physical space for the children who may not live with you.
- Children need a sense of belonging and creating a room or part of a room for the child will encourage this feeling.
- Take care of your marriage too, it's very important to have a strong marriage or your stepfamily will not succeed.
- Make some time for yourselves each week.
- Take care of your marriage too.
- Try to visualize the issues ahead of time and deal with them before they create mayhem in your family.
- Spend as much time as you can with your stepchildren.
- They DO remember!
|
|
|
Stepfamily Articles -
Stepfamily Articles
|
Weekend visits from stepchildren can be stressful, especially during
the holidays. Giving relationships time to grow is key to making the
visits more enjoyable, said a New Mexico State University child and
family life specialist.
"When stepchildren are just visiting
for the weekend or very short periods of time, it might take two or
three years before you can even develop a relationship," said Diana
DelCampo with NMSU's Cooperative Extension Service . "Don't force
stepchildren to love you, but do ask for some respect, understanding
and honesty."
|
|
|
|
<< Start < Prev 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 Next > End >>
|
| Results 873 - 883 of 1034 |
