Successful Stepmoms: Is It Luck—or Hard Work? by Trisha Ladogna
With St. Patrick’s Day around the corner, I started thinking about all of the lucky stepmoms I know—the ones whose days aren’t filled with bickering with their partners about parenting or schedules. The ones who have positive interactions with their stepkids and actually look forward to spending time with them. The ones who spend time with their partners’ exes and whose partners spend time with their exes without forming knots in their stomachs. The ones who seem to have found the four-leaf clover of stepfamilies.
Luck may have had something to do with these women finding the loves of their lives in the sea of billions of people who populate our planet, but I would argue that it isn’t luck that led them to stepfamily success. In thinking about these lovely ladies, I realized they shared some common beliefs, traits and behaviors when it came to their stepfamily relationships.
If you have been enviously comparing yourself to the lucky stepmoms out there or are patiently waiting for the luck of the Irish to descend on your stepfamily, stop! It’s not going to get you any closer to your relationship goals. What the lucky stepmoms I know happen to have struck upon isn’t a pot of gold.
It’s the realization that relationships take work—lots of hard work. What follows are nine ways those ladies have created their own brand of stepfamily luck. You can do the same! …To read the rest of this article and get successful stepmom tips log in to your account and download the March 2016 issue. Don’t have an account? Click here to subscribe.