Home » Partners & Parents » Step- Parents » Stepparents: December 2000 Review

Stepparents: December 2000 Review

© Judi Chapman

• Keeping "In-Step" With the Holidays
  Here is an excellent article about many important aspects that may be overlooked when planning for the holidays. The festive season is supposed to be fun and special for all members of the family, even when the original parents and children groupings have changed.
  The writers covers how to make visiting stepchildren feel comfortable, not overdoing gifts for one set of children, acknowledging the different religious customs and traditions in the new family, unreal expectations, discipline, and more. This article is highly recommended now that the holiday season is near.

• For Stepparents
  At this site there are many areas to check out. It begins with a short writeup about some of the large issues for stepparents, including the difficulties that go along with the fact that stepmothers have to deal with the "evil stepmother" myth.

  Another major problem occurs when there are expectations that the new family will bond instantly and become a happy and productive group. The author considers some of the factors that influence the success of the stepfamily.

  Jill Curtis writes with knowledge about parenting, and offers links to some of her articles and other interesting sites for stepparents. In addition, there are links to sub-pages for grandparents, single parents, and others. She also does book reviews, and takes a look at new videos.

• Tips To Help Stepparents Have Successful Marriages
  Starting with the quote, "stepfamilies will outnumber traditional nuclear families in America two to one by the year 2000," the author continues by looking at the difficulties involved in bringing together individuals from two families in order to make one family.

  A good start is to prevent problems, and that involves keeping some rules in mind. Foremost among these is to forget about the idea of having feelings of instant love between everyone. Other things discussed are the need for household rules, a refusal to be negative about a child's "other" parent, making an attempt to get along with the partner's ex, honesty, and family meetings.

  There are no links from this page, and the article is short, but there is solid advice that is easy to read.

• The Duty of Stepparents to Support Their Stepchildren
  This article offers a number of intriguing statistics about stepfamilies, and how laws have had to change to allow for the increasingly large number of them.

  By the late 1990s, twenty states had legislation saying a stepparent is legally responsible for caring for the stepchildren. In states that don't have laws covering this, there is a universal rule under common law that a stepparent is responsible if he or she has undertaken the role of a caretaker. When common law is involved, however, the stepparent also is free to leave the relationship with the child without being responsible for support.

The copyright of the article Stepparents: December 2000 Review in Step- Parents is owned by Judi Chapman. Permission to republish Stepparents: December 2000 Review in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.