The wedding officially declared you a new family but it's a long road to actually becoming one. You need a plan.
Talking Points:
- Start off on a united front. The biological parent needs to emphasize that their new spouse will have a parental role in the home and will be a part of making decisions for the family.
- Have regular family meetings. These meetings provide you with the opportunity to establish new family rules and set the right expectations.
- Stepparents, be patient and work on developing a relationship with kids.
- Parents should discuss frustrations in private. Don’t force things and don’t be too quick to jump into discipline.
- When kids show disrespect to stepparent, the biological parent must confront right away.
Discussion:
- Initial reactions to this topic? What jumped out at you?
- Do you feel like you are a united front in the home? Explain. How can you improve?
- How could family meetings help your kids to not feel frustrated? What topics need to be discussed?
- Stepparent, describe your relationship with each kid. What has been most challenging so far?
- Stepparent, what can you do to better understand the heart of each kid?
- Bio parent, how do you think the stepparent is doing at building a relationship with each kid?
- Stepparent, how is bio parent doing at supporting you? Where can they improve?
- Is there a step you need to take based on today’s topic?
