Category Archives: Counselling
The Shake Up
The Boys have been in Our City for the holidays for nearly a week, and it’s past time for a shake up of their rules and responsibilities. Some things they’re doing well; dishes are mostly getting put into the dishwasher … Continue reading
Filed under Communication, Counselling, Kids, Lovely Man, Stepfamily Life
Warning signs for stepmothers
Ask a stepmother what advice she’d give to another woman deciding whether to get involved with a man with kids, and the cliché is that she’ll screech: Run! Run like the wind! I’ve been tempted to trot this one out … Continue reading
Filed under Counselling, Linkety-Link, Stepfamily Life, The Ex, What I Wish I'd Known
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I’ve been on unplanned blog downtime for a month or so now. Life has felt very overwhelming. Kid stuff, ex stuff, relationship stuff, me stuff, Lovely Man stuff, our incredibly dense schedule, and the endless travel and separation from the … Continue reading
Stepmother mantras
Reading this post from stepmama metamorphoses (who has been so inspiring as she works through the process of stepping back from her husband’s ex’s dramas) as well as Sherri’s weekly affirmations at Too Many Toasters, I got thinking about the … Continue reading
Filed under Communication, Counselling, Family, Kids, Me, Stepfamily Life
Under the surface
On our overseas trip earlier this year, the Lovely Man and I met up with some friends, a couple who’ve been together about the same length of time as us, F & G. Like us, they are a few years … Continue reading
Filed under Counselling, Random, Stepfamily Life, Travel
Making rules…
…but for pity’s sake don’t even think of calling them “family rules”! I can almost hear the reaction now, echoed back from eleventy million step households: “You’re not my family and you don’t make rules for me!” [Sarcasm switches off] … Continue reading
Filed under Communication, Counselling, Kids, Lovely Man, Me, Stepfamily Life
Divided loyalties
Loyalty conflicts are perhaps the key to the challenging nature of life in a stepfamily. Loyalty binds of various kinds for kids, a sense of loyalty imbalanced or even betrayed for step-parents, divided loyalties for repartnered parents. Recently, I read … Continue reading
Filed under Counselling, Stepfamily Life, Writing
The Onslaught
By last October, Christmas 2009 was shaping up to be fairly horrific. In the end, it was and it wasn’t, I suppose. Like most adventures in stepfamily life, there were good as well as bad bits; in fact the good … Continue reading
Filed under Christmas, Communication, Counselling, Kids, Lovely Man, Me, Stepfamily Life, The Ex
What she said
Recently, I had what I call a “No shit, Sherlock!” moment. The family therapist the Lovely Man and I see from time to time told us something I found so utterly, earthshakingly true that my heart just about halted while … Continue reading
Filed under About Us, Communication, Counselling, Family, Stepfamily Life, The Ex
