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Stepfamily Realities

Author : Margaret Newman

Publisher :

Page : 284 pages

File Size : 15,47 MB

Release : 1994

Category : Family & Relationships

ISBN :

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Book Description

This practical and supportive handbook breaks down the myths surrounding stepfamily relationships and offers workable tools for solving common problems. Stepfamily "newlyweds" generally face a number of challenges unique to their situation. Many couples are overwhelmed by the unresolved anger they carry from previous marriages and by their children's resentment of "intruders"; family life may be complicated by visiting and resident stepchildren.In this straightforward guide, psychologist Margaret Newman helps readers examine their key relationships, identify potential conflicts, and understand how problems arise, as well as what to do about them. Jealousy, personal boundaries, discipline, communication skills, money issues, sexuality, a new child-these are just a few of the many issues Stepfamily Realities addresses.



Becoming A Stepfamily

Author : Patricia L. Papernow

Publisher : CRC Press

Page : 449 pages

File Size : 29,55 MB

Release : 2015-07-17

Category : Psychology

ISBN : 1317758153

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Book Description

What determines whether stepfamilies remain together? What helps stepfamilies overcomes the difficulties of remarriage and become mutually supportive family units? How can mental health professionals better support this development? This book brings both clarity and depth to the unique and complex dynamics of remarried families. Patricia Papernow draws on interviews with over 100 stepfamily members, up-to-date research, a solid theoretical framework, and an empathic clinical sensibility to present an insightful model of stepfamily development, the Stepfamily Cycle. This details account of the sages of forming a lasting, cohesive group is richly illustrated by stepfamily members' own stories. Becoming a Stepfamily describes the developmental challenges involved in building nourishing, reliable relationships between stepparents and stepchildren, in the newly married couple, and between different family groups who must learn to live together in a remarried family. Papernow discusses the factors that influence the pace and ease of development, and she provides four full length case studies illustrating the varied paths through the stepfamily cycle to the successful remarried life. The author offers therapists, clergy, school personnel, and others involved with stepfamilies a range of effective interventions, including preventive, educational, and clinical approaches. She provides practical guidance for helping family members deal constructively with the differing attachments of children to their biological parents and stepparents, assisting stepparents as they cope with feeling excluded from the powerful biological parent-child bond, and guiding biological parents torn between their spouse's need for intimacy and privacy and their children's needs for support and attention.



Stepmonster

Author : Wednesday Martin

Publisher : HarperCollins

Page : 333 pages

File Size : 26,38 MB

Release : 2011-01-21

Category : Family & Relationships

ISBN : 0547394314

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Book Description

An honest and groundbreaking guide to understanding the complicated emotions that develop between stepmothers and children. When faced with often overwhelming challenges, what woman with stepchildren is unfamiliar with that “stepmonster” feeling? Half of all women in the United States will live with or marry a man with children. To guide women new to this role—and empower those who are struggling with it—Wednesday Martin draws upon her own experience as a stepmother. She's frank about the harrowing process of becoming a stepmother, she considers the myths and realities of being married to a man with children, and she counteracts the cultural notion that stepmothers are solely responsible for the problems that often develop. Along the way, she interviews other stepmothers and stepchildren and offers up fascinating insights from literature, anthropology, psychology, and evolutionary biology that explain the little-understood realities of this unique parent-child relationship and—in an unexpected twist—shows why the myth of the Wicked Stepmother is the single best tool for understanding who real stepmothers are and how they feel.



The Smart Stepdad

Author : Ron L. Deal

Publisher : Bethany House

Page : 179 pages

File Size : 48,3 MB

Release : 2011-04-01

Category : Religion

ISBN : 144121464X

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Book Description

While resources abound for stepmothers, stepfathers are often left to travel a difficult road without clear directions. Ron Deal offers advice for men navigating the stepfamily minefield, including how to connect with stepchildren, being a godly role model, how to discipline, dealing with the biological dad, and keeping the bond strong with one's new spouse. He gives perspective on what the kids are going through and why things don't work the same as in a biological family. The Smart Stepdad provides essential guidelines to help stepfathers not only survive but succeed as both dad and husband.



Secrets to Stepfamily Success

Author : Gloria Lintermans

Publisher : Gloria Lintermans

Page : 314 pages

File Size : 27,72 MB

Release : 2010-06

Category : Family & Relationships

ISBN : 1605944181

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Book Description

THE SECRETS TO STEPFAMILY SUCCESS offers tools that can significantly lower the alarming 70% rate of step and blended family divorce, helping families evolve into highly nurturing, reliable refuges of warmth, safety, encouragement, strength, caring, and joy. Step and blended families have a unique dynamic with which couples must cope, along with all the other normal challenges of life and marriage. See how these families differ in up to sixty structural and dynamic ways from typical intact biological families--including consisting of two co-parenting homes and ex-spouses--and learn how to successfully recognize and manage these challenges. For most couples, trying to build a successful remarriage can mysteriously bring out their deepest personal fears, longings, shames, and hopes. The key to not only survival, but living this journey well, begins with discovering opportunities to heal and to succeed; it is not about blame or badness. With the right preparation and resources, a multi-home step or blended family can be a stable and solid foundation for co-parents and children. Gloria Lintermans is the author of THE HEALING POWER OF GRIEF: The Journey Through Loss to Life and Laughter, THE HEALING POWER OF LOVE: Transcending the Loss of a Spouse to New Love, THE NEWLY DIVORCED BOOK OF PROTOCOL: How to Be Civil When You Hate Their Guts, and RETCO CHIC: A Guide to Fabulous Vintage and Designer Resale Shopping in North America & Online. Her articles have appeared in local and national magazines, and she is a retired newspaper columnist whose column has been syndicated in English and Spanish language newspapers worldwide.



Strengthening Your Stepfamily

Author : Elizabeth Einstein

Publisher : Impact Pub

Page : 261 pages

File Size : 48,1 MB

Release : 2005-11

Category : Family & Relationships

ISBN : 9781886230620

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Book Description

One of three Americans is now a stepparent, a stepchild, a stepsibling, or some other member of a stepfamily. Stepfamilies are different. The "old rules" that govern traditional families don't necessarily apply, and each stepfamily must define its own "new rules" that will work for a unique blended family. Einstein and Albert bring to this manual decades of experience as stepfamily counselors and consultants, acclaimed writers, and stepparents themselves. The result is clear, down-to-earth, expert help for couple relationships and parenting in what some call "the jigsaw puzzle family." Among the many challenges dealt with in this comprehensive guidebook: overcoming unrealistic expectations, debunking myths, decision making, building effective communication, establishing sound discipline, handling stepsibling rivalry, working with non-custodial parents... and more.



The Smart Stepfamily

Author : Ron L. Deal

Publisher : Bethany House

Page : 272 pages

File Size : 18,84 MB

Release : 2006

Category : Family & Relationships

ISBN : 076420159X

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Book Description

Each member has their own unique place in a family. Ron Deal explores the myth of the "blended" family offering practical, realistic solutions for stepfamilies.



Queer Stepfamilies

Author : Katie L. Acosta

Publisher : NYU Press

Page : 268 pages

File Size : 18,70 MB

Release : 2021-07-27

Category : Family & Relationships

ISBN : 1479800996

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Book Description

A compelling examination of the social and legal experiences of lesbian, bisexual, and queer stepparent families Lesbian, bisexual, and queer families formed after the dissolution of a marriage face a range of obstacles. In Queer Stepfamilies, Katie L. Acosta offers a wealth of insight into their complex experiences as they negotiate parenting among multiple parents and family-building in a world not designed to meet their needs. Drawing on in-depth interviews, Acosta follows the journeys of more than forty families as they navigate a legal and social landscape that fails to recognize their existence. Acosta contextualizes the legal realities of LGBTQ stepparent families and considers the actions these parents take to protect their families in the absence of comprehensive policies or laws geared to meet their needs. Queer Stepfamilies reveals the obstacles these families face in family courts during divorce proceedings and custody cases, and highlights their distrust of courts when it comes to acting in their children’s best interests, especially in the event of an origin parent’s death. As LGBTQ families continue to make social and legal strides in acceptance and recognition, this important book shows how queer stepparents find ways to make their unconventional families work, despite the many social and legal obstacles they encounter. Acosta provides a fresh perspective, broadening our understanding about families in the twenty-first century.



Build a High-Nurturance Stepfamily

Author : Peter K. Gerlach

Publisher : Xlibris Corporation

Page : 517 pages

File Size : 28,29 MB

Release : 2002-11

Category : Family & Relationships

ISBN : 1401038816

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Book Description

Note: hyperlinks below will take you to the Break the Cycle! Website (formerly "Stepfamily inFormation") that this book and series are based on. Use your browser ́s "back" button to return to Xlibris. This is the fourth volume in a series of six dedicated to breaking the epidemic [wounds + unawareness] cycle that promotes America ́s tragic divorce divorce epidemic. The prior volume, Stepfamily Courtship (Xlibris.com, 2002), outlines seven Projects to help courting couples make wise commitment decisions. This book for stepfamily coparents and supporters adds five more projects based on the prior seven ones. If couples didn't do the prior projects (which is common), they can start the first six any time. A sobering reality: if either partner made any unwise courtship choices, it's unlikely that doing these other 11 Projects will guard them and their dependents from the five hazards that promote psychological or legal re/divorce. Nonetheless, working at the the projects will give minor kids their best chance at avoiding inherited psychological wounds, and passing them on to their descendents like their unaware ancestors did. The five post-re/wedding co-parenting projects are: 8) Nourish your re/marriage and steadily keep it your second priority, after personal integrity and wholistic health - except in emrgencies. In complex multi-home stepfamilies this is hard for many couples to do; as they 9) Merge three or more multi-generational biofamilies, and evolve strategies to resolve inevitable values and loyalty conflicts and Persecutor-Victim-Rescuer relationship triangles; while you 10) (a) Build a co-parenting team with your kids' "other parents," (b) stay current on your kids' progress with their many developmental and adjustment needs, and (c) continually adjust and refine your co-parenting "job descriptions" based on your stepfamily mission statement. Because all nine of these ongoing co-parent projects are complex, confusing, and conflictual 11) Intentionally build a support network for you and your kids, and use it regularly. Finally 12) Help each other (a) stay balanced personally, re/maritally, and co-parentally each day, and (b) enjoy this whole challenging, en



Stepfamily Courtship

Author : Peter K. Gerlach, MSW

Publisher : Xlibris Corporation

Page : 571 pages

File Size : 27,58 MB

Release : 2003-03-25

Category : Family & Relationships

ISBN : 1450059961

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Book Description

What ́s Different about This Book? This modular reference book and series for co-parents and human-service professionals is unique in the genre of stepfamily media for seven reasons. It is the only current resource that... Is based on (a) 30 years ́ clinical research, including over 17,000 hours ́ consultation with over 1,000 typical divorced and stepfamily adults and some of their kids; (b) five widespread re/marital hazards, and (c) 12 Projects to neutralize the hazards. This volume... Integrates six core concepts: # proven family-systems principles; and... # an inner-family concept of human personalities, linked to... # a definition of high-nurturance families; # a framework of seven effective-thinking and communication skills, # healthy three-level grieving and healing blocked grief; and... # a framework of stepfamily realities, meanings, and merger-adjustment tasks. A fifth uniqueness is that the book... Provides Internet addresses to over 150 experience-based stepfamily articles, worksheets, and other resources to augment its contents. This is one of several guidebooks for a free, 8-module self-study course for people interested in healing and self-growth. Lesson 7 focuses on evolving high-nurturance stepfamilies. And this book is different because of... My personality, writing style, training (BSME and MSW), and 72 years ́ life experience (engineering, business, teaching, and 30 years ́ practice of psychotherapy with hundreds of stepfamily clients). My learnings from personal "ACoA" recovery (from a low-nurturance childhood) since 1986 greatly influence this site and series of stress-prevention guidebooks. And... I have many years of personal experience as a stepgrandson, adult stepson, stepfather of two girls, and stepbrother of four - and an admirer of two haughty stepcats.