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Stepfamilies: Can Different Family Cultures Be Blended Together? John D

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Stepfamilies: Can Different Family Cultures Be Blended Together? John D ® ® University of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension, Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources Know how. Know now. G2142 Getting Connected, Staying Connected Stepfamilies: Can Different Family Cultures Be Blended Together? John D. DeFrain, Extension Specialist, Family and Community Development; Gail L. Brand, Extension Educator; Maureen H. Burson, Extension Educator; Ann M. Fenton, Extension Educator; Jeanette L. Friesen, Extension Educator; Janet S. Hanna, Extension Educator; Mary E. Nelson, Extension Educator; Cynthia R. Strasheim, Extension Educator; Dianne M. Swanson, Extension Educator; LaDonna A. Werth, Extension Educator change for people of any age Blending two families into a stepfamily takes work. is confusing and stressful. A successful stepfamily must be based on the couple Healing, time, plan­ relationship. This is No. 18 in a series of 20 NebGuides ning, and effort. A success­ that focus on building and maintaining strong couple ful stepfamily does not and family relationships written by a team of University happen by accident and it of Nebraska–Lincoln Extension Educators. does not happen overnight. It takes planning, intelli­ To succeed as a stepfamily, the couple must find ways gence, and goodwill on the to keep their relationship as the No. 1 priority in the family, part of those who are in­ the foundation for everything else. The first two years of this volved. Accord ing to family new marriage have proven to be critical for the couple in researchers Betty Carter and many cases. Without this strong relationship in place, stress Monica McGoldrick , people from raising children, former spouses, job demands, health go through three major stages issues, and finances can all combine, causing the partnership in the process of creating a new family through remar­ and the stepfamily to fail. For more information about strong riage: (1) entering a new couple and family relationships, According to the U.S. Census Bureau, 2006, relationship; (2) planning the refer to the book Getting Connected, 60 percent of second marriages end in divorce. new marriage and family; and Staying Connected, which can be (3) developing a stepfamily. ordered online at amazon.com. It takes time for the members of new stepfamilies to learn about each other’s histories, negotiate new traditions, Entering A New Relationship and create their own family memories. Each member of the new family comes with a set of expectations of what family Before beginning the first stage, entering a new means and the roles ascribed to each person from their previous relationship, divorced or widowed individuals should family culture. feel that they have recovered from the loss of their first marriage. If they have not done this, they risk “marrying on Birth Order in Stepfamilies the rebound.” But to be successful in the new relationship, one must be divorced or recovered emotionally as well as The birth order of the children in a stepfamily may change legally from the first partner. This process of recovery and by the simple exchange of their parents’ wedding vows. For resolution of the first marriage can take a long time. example, if I was the oldest child in my original family and had the responsibilities and privileges of an oldest child, do I Planning the New Marriage lose my rank if a new stepsibling is older? Do I suddenly and automatically become the babysitter if I now have younger During the second stage in the formation of a stepfamily, stepsiblings? Who is responsible for me and to whom am I planning the new marriage and family, both spouses­to­be responsible? These are big changes in the life of a child, and and their children must learn to accept their own fears about the new marriage and the formation of a stepfamily. During reinforce rules, and discipline within the guidelines and this period of time, it is also important to accept the fact that direction agreed upon with the biological parent. It is important much time and patience are needed to adjust to the complexity for the stepparent to use this borrowed power in the new family and unknown habits of a new family. It is not going to be an relationship to establish a consistent shared couple discipline easy process. Besides adjusting to new roles as a new spouse, of all children who live within the walls of the family home new stepparent, new stepchild, and a new member of a new at any time. This eliminates an opportunity for the children extended family, the family members need to make adjustments to manipulate the situation until the other parent gets home. in terms of space, time, membership, and authority. They also need to deal with emotional issues, including feelings Making Parenting Time Work of guilt, loyalty conflicts, the desire for closeness to both the new children and the biological children, and irresolvable past When the biological children come to share parenting hurts. One stepfather lamented that he spent so much time, time with their father or mother, the stepparent’s attention money, and energy on his new spouse and her children that he naturally shifts to her or his biological children and this was neglecting his own children from the previous marriage. may be perceived as bias by the stepchildren. The children living day-to-day in the stepfamily are likely to experience Developing a Stepfamily confusion and also have a feeling that they are less important in the stepparent’s life than the biological children. This During the third stage, developing a stepfamily, the newly often becomes a no­win situation for the stepparent as he married partners need to strengthen their couple relationship or she tries to assure all the children that they are loved and so that they can function effectively as co­parents. During cared for equally. It is true that a stepparent coping with a this phase of developing a genuine family, room has to be headstrong nonbiological child or with a teenager who refuses made in the new family for stepchildren, half­siblings, new to cooperate may seem like a nightmare. Stepparents who take sets of grandparents, and extended kin. It is also important to the time for consistent nurturing and open communication make room for relationships among all the children and their will increase the chances of a strong stepparent­stepchild biological (noncustodial) parents, grandparents, and other relationship. extended family members. When you marry, you do not marry an individual. Building Quality Time You marry a whole family that comes with this individual. Similarly, when you remarry and form a stepfamily, you are It would be ideal if all of the children would visit their connecting two already-formed and complex families. Again, other parent’s home on the same weekend, leaving the newly this is a challenging task because the number of relationships married couple time alone to enhance the couple relationship. between family members multiplies as the number of family It is important to find time to do this, whenever possible. In members increases. one family we know this was seen as the date weekend for Unrealistic expectations. Human beings often expect too the parents. They had candlelight dinners at home, slept late, much too soon. Unrealistic expectations of family members and generally doted on each other while doing the laundry, can create conflict in any family, but in the stepfamily, these cleaning the house, and running errands. As they noted, “It can be especially detrimental to the formation of a strong sounds rather boring, but gosh was it exciting to do all those family unit. Instant love is often desired and expected by things without kids underfoot.” some members of the new family unit, but it is unrealistic to If only one set of children at a time visits the noncustodial think this will happen. All relationships take time to develop, parent, it gives the new stepparent time to form a bond with and the relationships in the stepfamily have to deal with two her or his stepchildren. This can be a great time for this family separate family units overlapping through the children. to establish a special ritual. Of course, to be fair the ritual will be repeated the next weekend with the other children in the Discipline marriage. William J. Doherty, a professor of family social science at the University of Minnesota-St. Paul, states in Building a shared parenting role for discipline is one of his book The Intentional Family that repeated rituals shared the most important couple activities to develop early in the between stepchild and stepparent can slowly build a one­on­ new family unit. It is hard to raise children in any family, one relationship. This ritual might be a breakfast for two, a but taking the role of a spouse without the real authority of shopping trip for just the two family members, or perhaps a a parent can be a tricky job for a stepparent: “You aren’t my camping trip together. mother!” a child is likely to say. Although it is usually believed that in the first two years The Strength of Communication any actual discipline needs to be delivered by the biological parent, the stepparent should be responsible on a day­to­day The stepparent learns quickly to invite children to talk basis for re­enforcing and keeping the consequences of the about all of their parents in an atmosphere of acceptance or rules established by the family group. the child just will not engage in the conversation. Encourage Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott call this “living on borrowed the children to talk about their feelings. “I would really like to power.” This type of power is much like the power that paid hear why you would like to move in with your dad.” “I would caregivers have when coming into your house to care for like to know how you feel your parent would have handled the children.
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