• Stepmothers Have a Tremendous Effect on Their Stepchildren via The Pygmalion Effect Is that true? Is there nothing that you can do to affect your stepchildren’s life? If you feel powerless, I want to remind you of The Pygmalion Effect. The Pygmalion Effect is a scientifically proven phenomenon whereby the greater the expectation placed upon people the better they perform. Another way to look

    Read more

    Is "No" Where We Draw the Line? One of the most annoying things about being a stepmother is that it brings hard subjects up. Often the thing that we don’t want to do, comes up in stepparenting. You know what I mean. Issues like: Drawing the line on issues like self respect, your role in the family and in life, how you want to live and how much you want to compromise in life and whether or not

    Read more

    Anne Taintor's Images Encapsulate the Ultimate Passive Aggressive Behavior. Big Smiles. Their Thoughts are In the Words. We love Anne Taintor! Passive aggressiveness runs rampant in our stepfamilies.  I hypothesize that there is a minimum of one family member who exhibits these behaviors.  Are you one of the passive aggressive family members?  Or, are you living with passive aggressive

    Read more

    When Will Stepmothers Get Their Justice? When will I get justice?  Have you ever thought about justice?  I know that I have. Does any of this sound familiar? "I do all of this work.  When will someone thank me?" " I am always the one picking up the pieces.  Yet, I never get asked.  It's just assumed I'll watch the kids or cook the meals." "I am everyone's doormat." "IT'S JUST UNFAIR!

    Read more

    What If There Was a Beautiful Stepfamily and You Couldn't See It? They say that the definition of stupidity is doing the same things over and over and expecting a different result.  If we were to be honest with ourselves, do we do the same things?  Do we avoid the hard work associated with change?  Do we want to avoid any vulnerability to our stepfamily members? Do we just want things to be

    Read more

    Starbucks is More Than a Cup of Coffee.What Do You Stand For? Have you ever thought about what is truly galvanizing you towards your life's legacy?  I was moved to think about this question as I watched Oprah interview Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks.  Starbucks provides an aggressive benefits package for its employees that work 20 hours or more per week.  How great is that?  (As a side

    Read more

    Does One plus One = Two in a Stepfamily? Stepfamily Math I always thought that we could tell our stepfamily's story by using mathematical symbols. By using mathematical symbols, we can see our story a different way.  See if you can interpret the story. BM + DH = SK SK = SD + SS DH - BM = Divorce Divorce = (DH + SK) + (BM + SK) DH + SK = 1 BM + SK = 1 SM = Nice person DH + SM = 1 DH

    Read more

    We Need Some StepMommy-isms! I love mommy-isms.  You know what they are.  They are the classic expressions that your mother used and you swore that you would never say.  But, then, you find that you are saying them.  Some are wise.  Some are ridiculous.  Some are downright horrible and some would generate a call to your state’s child protective services.  I thought it would be fun to

    Read more

    Stepfamilies Are Awesome! Happy Stepfamily Day! If you are lucky enough to have a stepparent, a step-sibling and step-relatives, September 16th is your day.  It is National Stepfamily Day.  The purpose of this day is to recognize stepfamilies by taking a minute and recognizing the love, care and support the step-relatives provide.  It is the day for us to remember how lucky we are to

    Read more

    Stepfamilies Can Have Fun Like These Passengers on this Flight! I felt compelled to write this blog when I saw the video of the Southwest Airlines flight from Phoenix to Los Angeles.  This is so great!  Singer Gavin DeGraw was on the flight.  Southwest Airlines asked or paid him to sing to the customers during the flight.  It was completely impromptu for the passengers.  The look on their

    Read more