Being a Stepparent Sucks (Even When it Doesn’t)

Even when all seems calm, step-parenting can be a tense and unpleasant experience. If you're struggling with that, I'm here to say "me, too!" (and that it's all perfectly ok).

Accepting the Type of Mother I Am

There aren't many examples of stepmoms in the media and there aren't many conversations about stepmoms in general. Growing up, I knew what it was like to have a stepmom, but not what it meant to be one. A quick google search will reveal there are many types of stepmoms and they all have differing …

Why We Should Stop Telling Stepmoms to Step Back.

I'm going to share an unpopular opinion: stepparents should be able to take an active role in parenting if they want to. And not just the lovely moments, but the difficult you-hit-your-sister-so-now-its-timeout moments. From private conversation to public forum, we constantly tell stepmoms to back off. "Keep your opinions to yourself." "Leave discipline to the 'real' …

Five Things to Do After a Bad Week

Hey girl, it happens. Maybe your kids had more attitude, maybe you had less patience or maybe life happened and you just weren't on your A game. We've all been there (I was there last week). The problem? It is entirely too easy to beat ourselves up for a less-than-perfect parenting moment (or twelve). It's in …