Stepping into a new family
I sat in on a stepfamily support group meeting at Carri and Gordon Taylor’s home in Edmond. The Taylor’s hold meetings for couples who are trying to cope as a blended family. Each couple talked about the difficulties they struggle with when trying to make their stepfamily relationships successful. They talked about feeling guilty because they didn’t love their stepchildren the same way they loved their biological children and feeling guilty because they haven’t formed a real bond with their stepchildren.
As each person spoke, I began nodding my head in agreement because I could relate to everything they were saying because I grew up in a stepfamily as well. My experience was rough at first because not only did I have to deal with my four biological siblings, I also had to all of sudden try to accept my three new stepsiblings and a stepfather who were all basically strangers.
Eventually, I accepted them and we formed a bond, but it didn’t happen overnight. It took several years, and it was a collaborative effort. One of the themes from the support group meeting was that members of stepfamilies should not expect to form a bond with one another immediately. It’s normal for it to take several years before a deep bond is formed.
The Taylor’s have also been through the stepfamily process, and they gave tips and advice to the other couples who were struggling with it.
After attending the support group meetings, many couples told me that they’re stepfamily life improved drastically. For more information about the stepfamily support group meeting, call 340-7145 or go to www.cgtaylor.com
Tim Henley, staff reporter
If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
Comments
No comments yet.
Leave a comment