Tag: stepfamily dynamics

Inside the March 2018 Issue

StepMom March 2018 CoverThe March 2018 issue is HERE! This month’s issue is full of helpful advice and information to make your job as a stepmom easier, including:

→ Advice from ‘Stepmonster’ author, Wednesday Martin, PhD
→ A guide to understanding personality disorders
→ Strategies for becoming more assertive
→ Communication tips for you and your partner
→ 6 Ways to support a special needs stepchild
→ Tips to shift your outlook from powerless to peaceful
→ And much more!

Here’s the full list of what’s inside this month:  Continue reading “Inside the March 2018 Issue”

Interview with Wednesday Martin, PhD: Inside the March 2018 Issue

Wednesday Martin StepmonsterStruggling With the “Stepmonster” in You?
Insight and Advice from Wednesday Martin, PhD
BY STEPMOM STAFF

Social Researcher, Author and Cultural Critic “at large, in high heels,” Wednesday Martin, PhD, tugged at the roots of the stepfamily tree with the 2009 release of her book “Stepmonster: A New Look at Why Real Stepmothers Think, Feel and Act the Way We Do.” A Books for a Better Life Award finalist, the title continues to be a must-read. Continue reading “Interview with Wednesday Martin, PhD: Inside the March 2018 Issue”

Estranged Stepkids: Inside the March 2018 Issue

Estranged StepkidsAre Your Stepkids Strangers to You?
The Impact of Estrangement on Stepfamilies and First Families
BY CLAUDETTE CHENEVERT

I recently spoke with Jennifer, who’s a stepmom with two grown stepdaughters.

“I don’t understand,” Jennifer said. “We call them. We leave messages. They never return our calls. Plus, I have a feeling they’re withholding our grandkids from us. We don’t seem to be able to visit with them. I know the girls were upset that their parents divorced but that was years ago.” Continue reading “Estranged Stepkids: Inside the March 2018 Issue”

Transform Your Stepfamily: Inside the January 2018 Issue

Transform Your StepfamilyTransform Your Stepfamily: 4 Keys to Create Lasting Success and a Life You Love! BY CHRISTINA ROACH, LMHC

Ringing in a New Year, for most, is full of resolutions and commitments to make the next 12 months better than the prior ones. Unfortunately the excitement that surrounds these aspirations quickly fades, as the realities of day-to-day life take hold and the newness wanes.

What if you applied that effort, instead, toward transforming your stepfamily culture? Continue reading “Transform Your Stepfamily: Inside the January 2018 Issue”

Feel Like an Outsider? Inside the December 2017 Issue

Outsider SyndromeThere’s No Place Like Home: Advice for Stepmoms Who Experience Outsider Syndrome By Mary T. Kelly, MA

It doesn’t matter how old you are: “There’s no place like home! There’s no place like home! There’s no place like home!” For most of us, these pleading words are as familiar as the sun rising in the East.

In “The Wizard of Oz,” Dorothy was lost and had to find her way back home. This was no easy endeavor. She went through trial after trial, faced perilous odds, came up against deception and, ultimately, found redemption. Oh, the roads she had to travel first to get there! Continue reading “Feel Like an Outsider? Inside the December 2017 Issue”

Erasing Family: Inside the December 2017 Issue

Fighting Parental Alienation: Filmmaker Ginger Gentile Aims to Educate and Reunite #Erased Family Members By Kristen Wilkinson, PsyD

We all have our guilty, reality TV pleasures. I mean, how exciting was it that Meghan King Edmonds of Bravo’s “The Real Housewives of Orange County” was featured in StepMom Magazine in March 2016? Those of us who then watched the show over the summer saw one of its other stars open up about the impact of divorce, as Tamra Judge spoke at a gala in support of the documentary film “Erasing Family.”

Judge talked about her experiences—as a child of divorce, Continue reading “Erasing Family: Inside the December 2017 Issue”

Holiday Tips for Stepmoms: Inside the December 2017 Issue

Stepmoms Guide HolidaysHappy Holidays? A Stepmom’s Guide to Finding Magic in the Mess By Kate Chapman

There was a time in my life when I believed in the magic of the winter holidays. Tinsel and candlelight. Snow falling softly outside. Loving families sharing time together, as children played happily inside. All was calm. All was bright. Joy and peace ruled the day.

Then I became a stepmom.

My first Christmas as a stepmom looked nothing like what I saw on TV. My days were filled with schedule shenanigans, kid shuttling Continue reading “Holiday Tips for Stepmoms: Inside the December 2017 Issue”

Stepmoms and Jealousy: Inside the December 2017 Issue

Jealous of My Stepdaughter“I’m Jealous of My Stepdaughter!” 5 Ways to Make Peace With Your Feelings By Brenda Snyder, LCSW 

Stepmoms have it rough. You would be hard-pressed to come up with even one fictional, famous or literary stepmom character who’s portrayed in a positive light. Yet, when the title is preceded by “evil” or “wicked,” dozens quickly come to mind.

It’s no wonder that, with such a reputation to live down, it’s really hard for stepmoms to open up and admit to the less admirable feelings which commonly infiltrate their experience. Continue reading “Stepmoms and Jealousy: Inside the December 2017 Issue”

Stepfamily Holiday Traditions: Inside the November 2017 Issue

Stepfamily Holiday TraditionsHoliday Traditions: The Stepfamily Investment That Yielded Unexpected Returns By Jonelle Jones

When I first became a stepmom, the word “tradition gave me the same fuzzy feelings it always had. It wasn’t until we’d traversed our first few important events and holidays before the word began to make me feel uncomfortable. I realized—unwittingly—that traditions, in a stepfamily, weren’t as simple or as magical as they had been my whole life prior.

A bit of back story is in order. I’ve been in the stepmom role for more than six years. Continue reading “Stepfamily Holiday Traditions: Inside the November 2017 Issue”

The Holidays – A Stepmom’s Guide: Inside the November 2017 Issue

Stepmom Holiday GuideHolidays Reframed: A Stepmom’s Guide to Celebrating the Season By Brenda Snyder, LCSW 

Getting through the holidays can be a challenge for everyone—stepmoms and stepfamilies included. Even the most seasoned stepmom may do little more than endure the last two months of the year. In some cases, experience makes us dread the holidays, as it takes so few brushes with these pages on the calendar to understand the reality of thwarted plans, hopes and dreams.

Why are holidays so tough? Many stepmoms eventually adopt the grit-your- teeth-and-endure style of survival, when it comes to getting through the holiday season. Continue reading “The Holidays – A Stepmom’s Guide: Inside the November 2017 Issue”