Building Successful Stepfamilies

Did you know that there are over 60 types of stepfamily situations? On yesterdays radio show with Ron Deal we discussed how to build a successful stepfamily. Ron Deal was our guest and was absolutely delightful to talk to. He has spent a significant amount of time researching and studying successful stepfamilies. The outcome of his work is that he has developed some very valuable educational content to help stepfamilies develop the right skills so that they can succeed.

He talked about the problem of using the term blended families. Instead he suggested that we consider the best method for cooking a stepfamily. His suggestion is to use a crockpot. This analogy is very good and powerful.

We also talked about how to effectively discipline stepchildren. Ron answered a listeners question about disciplining stepchildren. Part of the question was what do you do when your stepchild says to you, “You aren’t my dad or mom?” My take away from his response was. First, make sure that the marital relationship is solid. Second, acknowledge the child frustration and let him/her know that it is not easy for them–great idea. Third, follow through with the family rule–in other words just because a stepchild tells you that you aren’t his child, doesn’t mean he/she gets out of doing the job.

A statement like, “I know you don’t want to do the job, but we still need to clean your room. If you choose use part of your allowance and pay your sister to do it.”

During the show we talked about other key issues to help stepfamilies. If you want to listen to the show you can download it at the following link: http://www.growthclimate.com/radio.i?cmd=list.

If you want to learn more about stepfamilies and learn from a true expert I would suggest you visit Ron Deals website: http://www.successfulstepfamilies.com.

Have a great day!

p.s.–If you would like to listen to “About Relationships with Dr. Skinner” you can listen to us live each Friday morning at 10:00 a.m. @ http://www.planetarystreams.com.