chretien dammit: The Danger of Comparing Your Stepfamily to Another ? Step ...

Do you?find yourself comparing the growth of your stepfamily to your neighbor?s?next door? Do you talk to?your stepmom friend at work and wonder why her stepfamily seems to be having such smooth sailing while your family is stuck in?the muck?

My husband always?calls our family??remedial blenders.??Our relationships didn?t come together?within the first five to seven years of marriage as stepfamily research suggests.?In fact, some of our toughest years as a family were?seven to ten?years after our marriage.

Does that mean we were doing everything?wrong, slowing?the progress of our family blending? Certainly my husband and?I made our share of mistakes as stepparents, but we also had some challenging variables to contend with that influenced the relationships in our family.

One of the biggest?factors that determines how well a family unites?is whether the ex-spouse?allows?his/her children the freedom to embrace a relationship with the stepparent. His/her attitude toward the stepparent can greatly influence the child?s ability to accept and love a new stepparent.

Unfortunately, as a stepparent, you have no control over what happens in the other home that influences the relationships in your home. I remember quite clearly the half-hearted hugs and stand-offish behavior?I received every time?my stepchildren returned from their mother?s home. I always wondered what kind of conversation went on about me while they were gone. I?m sure it was best I didn?t know.

Because my stepdaughter was ten when we married, her age also influenced our ability to bond. I didn?t understand when she began pulling away from the family as she progressed through adolescence but it was part of?her growing-up process, a time of buiding her?own identity separate from the family, that naturally takes place during the teen-age years.

Stepfamily research also suggests that the hardest relationship to develop?is the stepmom/stepdaughter one. Instead of blaming myself for our prickly interactions, I would have done better to accept?the fact?that some of?our challenges were simply intertwined in our tendency?as two females in the same household to butt heads. When my oldest biological daughter traversed through the teen years, we encountered some of the same tensions.

It was also normal for my stepdaughter?to desire a stronger relationship with her biological mother, leaving me in an indispensable role.?Because of her natural bond with her mother, she couldn?t naturally bond with me.

After my husband and I were married eight years, we learned my stepchildren?s mother had colon cancer. My stepchildren?stood by helplessly the?next year, watching their mother?slowly?digress, then pass away. The pain of her loss left?raw emotions?they didn?t know what to do with,?negatively?impacting?our stepfamily relationships.

So I no longer carry the?responsibility for the remedial blending that?occurred in our?family. We could have never predicted nor controlled the circumstances that occurred. But we could control our reaction to them and our commitment to press forward,?despite the odds.

What about your family? Were you hoping for smooth sailing as your relationships came together??Do you wonder why your family doesn?t look like the stepfamily next door that seems to be having an easier time? Don?t compare. It?s dangerous.

Those who have the easiest time as a stepfamily?never appreciate the value of their relationships because they didn?t have to work for them.

If your family takes longer than you desire to unite, don?t despair. Celebrate the victories along the way. Affirm the value of what you?re creating. And be thankful for the challenges. Because you?ll always?know it would have been easier to quit.

But you didn?t.

Can you?recognize the uniqueness in your ?circumstances that influence your?relationships??Will you share how you cope with it?