The Reality of Being a Step Parent

If being a parent is the hardest job in the world, this means that being a step parent is even more demanding! The role of the step parent is blurry, especially for the children and navigating it to make everyone comfortable requires a lot of dedication and sensitivity. Children are easily confused by the change of a new family member, especially one that is supposed to have authority over them. It's just not realistic to think that when a parent falls in love and brings in a new life partner that the children and other family members will automatically adapt.
Since the child-step parent relationship is a fragile one, make sure that everyone's feelings are heard and respected. The relationship is also further affected by the child's age when the step parent enters into the scene. For younger children having a step parent can be amazing, whereas for older children there is an automatic testing of the step parents authority over them. Similarly, if the parent and step parent want to have a child together this will likely create a threat to the existing children who will be asking themselves what their value is in the family now that a new little one is coming along. We all are reluctant to share love and change the security of what we know.