Step Parenting- the "forever" quality
I had this article on my heart for a while and I finally got the opportunity and drive to actually write it all the way out. I think the biggest factor in step parenting that the step family is missing is the "forever" quality. You see, with a bio family, there's an unwritten law that no matter what the children do, no matter what they say, and through it all, the parents will stick by them because they are blood family. In some ways, this also applies the other way around to the parents-- no matter what, the bio children will still love, defend and honor their bio parents, no matter how fucked up their upbringing was because of the unwritten code. Some of this is dictated by culture, some of it by law, and of course the whole "you-look-like-me-you-carry-my-genes-my-history-and-legacy" thing does not hurt in proving my hypothesis. When I'm looking around at the blogs of my fellow stepmoms who feel unappreciated or the stepdads who feel disrespected, I really...