Blended Family Parenting

Blended is beautiful. But, as one of the 1,300 new stepfamilies forming in the US every day, you know that there are always obstacles to overcome. Our Modern Blended Family can help you - and your partner - create a happy, healthy blended family. Together....

If you are considering remarriage and want to do everything you can to ensure a happy and fulfilling union, turn to Ron Deal and the Smart Stepfamily series. This is the ideal book for engaged or pre-engaged couples who have at least one child from a previous relationship, offering premarital counsel about how to prepare to blend family relationships, parenting, finances, rituals, and daily routines for your new life together.

A stepmother constantly sees to others' needs - those of her spouse, her kids, his kids, their kids. She also has to work so hard to maintain her marriage or deal with the emotional turmoil that can follow divorce and marrying again, that she may neglect her own needs. It's no wonder, then, that stepmothers often ask: Who's taking care of me? This is where Sue Patton Thoele steps in, offering practical advice and emotional support in a new edition of her book, The Courage to Be a Stepmom.

A response to all those grandmother books with flowers and puppies on the cover, Grandma Rules is a book for the hip, baby boomer grandma who realizes that after all the work she put into her own kids, she can take a break and have fun with her grandkids. A perfect gift for the greatest grandmothers you know, this book is laugh-out-loud funny while offering useful insights and tips on how to embrace the world’s greatest job.

Fourteen years ago, Mike Milligan learned he would become a grandfather for the first time. He was surprised to find that there was little or no information available on what it means to be a grandfather, how to make the most of the experience, and how to be the best grandfather possible. Sure, there were shelves of books dedicated to grandmothers - all with cuddly covers depicting spring bouquets or gentle little lambs. But there was not a single book that spoke to him, a 64-year-old grandfather-to-be. It struck him that there were countless other grandfathers out there experiencing this same feeling of neglect.

Grandparenting is hard enough, but when you add in the blended family element, whether step or adopted, the challenge is even greater. How do you succeed when these children are not your own? How do you make them your own? Can you get them to love you? To like you? To trust you? How do successful grandparents do it? Dene Low, an award winning author and grandparent herself, explores thirty different sets of grandparents and provides tips and solutions from her interviews and research for grandparent success.

Leading stepfamily expert Ron Deal offers a revised and expanded edition of his signature resource, which addresses key concerns and practical issues facing every stepfamily.

The 9-L model illustrated in Blended Families--Special Children explores the dynamics of stepfamilies caring for children with special needs and disabilities and presents the information in digestible nuggets ready for consumption by quintessential blended families juggling the demands of parenthood with caring for children with special needs.

In There's No Such Thing as 'Naughty', mum to two young children, journalist and children's mental health advocate Kate Silverton shares her groundbreaking new approach to parenting under-fives that will make life much easier for parents and an awful lot more fun. Kate's simple and unique strategies, easy-to-follow techniques and scripts will equip you to manage those tricky everyday challenges with ease - and help to ensure you enjoy the strongest bond possible with your child, both now and in the years ahead.

If you're in a stepfamily, you may not be able to pause this book. It tracks the experiences of several real step-couples as they navigate the multiple issues and relationships in a stepfamily. Research validated strategies are clearly offered that, when incorporated, greatly reduce stepfamily conflicts.

With some expert guidance and God's help, you can have tremendous influence in your stepchild's life and grow in your faith along the way. Seasoned stepmom Laurie Polich Short understands and empathizes with the difficult job you face. Drawing on extensive research, biblical teaching, and her own real-life experience (including an insightful chapter cowritten with her stepson, Jordan), Laurie provides practical and spiritual advice to help you fully embrace and succeed in your role as stepparent.

When I started out on this journey, it all seemed pretty simple: I thought that love would be enough to see me through. I had no idea what it would take to create a fully blended family - just how many factors and emotions would be involved or how deep it would all go. How to Build a Family is the nurturing handbook I wish I'd been given. In it you'll find my experiences, as well as those of other blended families (because every family is unique), along with advice and tips from the experts who have guided me.

Eating is an innate skill that has been overcomplicated by marketing schemes and a dieting culture. It’s time to leave the dieting culture behind for the whole family. It starts with the baby’s first bite! When babies show signs of readiness for solid foods, they can eat almost everything the family eats and become healthy, happy eaters in the process. By honoring self-regulation (also an innate skill) and focusing on a whole-food foundation, we can foster healthier children, parents, and families.

In Baby Making for Everybody, queer millennial midwives Ray Rachlin and Marea Goodman use their professional expertise to demystify the dizzying process of pursuing parenthood as queer and solo people, offering detailed, gender-affirming, body-positive advice. The result is a much-needed compassionate step-by-step guide for every aspect of the complicated, messy, and glorious process of building a family.

Every new stepmom finds themselves struggling with these same thoughts. Life is meant to be tough, and joining a new family and assuming the role of "mom" is one of the toughest things imaginable. But I've got good news: All your problems are temporary! If you have an action plan and know what you're doing, you can seamlessly make the transition to stepmom. This book will give you that action plan.

What does it mean to be a good parent? Are you a good parent when your child is compliant, but a bad parent when they're not? What if they're perfect at age three and challenging at 13? And what if your child has additional needs? This is an audiobook about parenting styles and what it takes to be a great parent. We know about tiger parents, helicopter parents, free-range parents, but have you heard of Tesla parents, leaf-blower parents and iPhone 6 parents? We can parent in so many ways, but is there a style that actually works?

Living in the Family Blender provides practical guidance upon which any family may build better relationships and a life filled with joy and purpose. Join them on their personal journey and discover glorious possibilities in your own family.

"Unified Hearts: Proven Strategies for Cultivating Lasting Marital Harmony in Blended Families" delves deeply into the art and science of nurturing a successful blended family. This insightful book unpacks the complexity of merging families, offering a rich tapestry of strategies, from effective communication and conflict resolution to emotional support and financial management.

New York Times best-selling relationship expert Maggie Scarf shares in-depth stories of seven remarried couples - revealing the unique challenges they face as they strive to achieve lasting intimacy and familial harmony. Through cautionary tales and stories of hope, Scarf offers guidance for handling everything from children who reject the new family dynamic to the thorny issue of money. Loaded with practical wisdom and searing accounts, The Remarriage Blueprint is a definitive road map to a happy, thriving, integrated household.

Open adoption isn't just something parents do when they exchange photos, send emails, share a visit. It's a lifestyle that may feel intrusive at times, be difficult or inconvenient at other times. Tensions can arise even in the best of circumstances. But knowing how to handle these situations and how to continue to make arrangements work for the child involved is paramount. This book offers listeners the tools and the insight to do just that.