Becoming family is a process, not an event As much as you’d love to come home from the honeymoon to a smoothly-humming family unit that everyone just loves, the reality is that it takes time for a stepfamily to really gel – even when everyone genuinely likes everyone else.

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What Are the Kids Thinking?
Children of all ages are likely to have some questions and concerns, even when they are really excited about their parent's new partner.

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Package Deal Is your marriage a package deal? "Blending" and stepparenting can get everybody stirred up! But you can create a sense of belonging that allows you to truly become "family".

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Step By Step Coaching

Is Your Marriage a Package Deal With Children Included?

“Blending” can get everybody really stirred up! Do you wonder sometimes how to make it all work? Your relationship, your kids, your sanity…?

Couple

You are not alone. Every day in the US, 1300 new stepfamilies are formed when parents get married. We go into our new relationships with lots of love and high hopes, but the honeymoon for couples who walk down the aisle with children is often very short.

Reality hits quickly:

The day-to-day demands of parenting make it tough to find couple time

The learning phase for new stepparents can be awkward.

Children may have a tough time adjusting

Conflicts come up.

Everyone in the family wonders from time to time, “Where do I fit in here?”

You can create a sense of belonging for everyone that allows you to truly become “family.” You don’t have to just sit back and wait and hope that it will happen for you. You don’t have to worry about being one of the 2 out of 3 that don’t last. You can learn what to do and how to make the process of becoming family go much more smoothly.

What does it take to succeed?

Couples who develop successful families understand what's normal in the development of a stepfamily. They realize it takes time to form strong connections through sharing experiences and building a history together. They establish rules, rituals and traditions together. And maybe most importantly, they recognize that conflict is a normal, useful way that they will grow into the loving family they want.

Step by Step Coaching Can Help

I know the challenges and joys of creating a stepfamily firsthand. I'm Marcia Walker, a personal coach with 20 years experience helping people be their best at work and at home, and I am the founder of Step by Step Coaching. My skills as a helping professional have been put to the test in the real-life laboratory of my family. With 13 years as a stepmom, 30 years as a mom and 9 years of grandmothering the next generation in my family, I’ve logged lots of time and experience with what works and what doesn’t. So, it was a natural thing for me to start coaching, writing and speaking about how people can bring together pieces of families past to create new workable, loving families – even when everyone isn’t on the same page about it to start with.

To read more about the kinds of people and situations Step by Step Coaching is for, read “Is This For Us?”