Joan

A new stepmom and stepdaughter find healing for the holidays

Suzanne is the apple of her dad's eye - 22, a beautiful, bright and successful architecture student who recently completed study in Europe for six months. Her parents' divorce had been finalized shortly before she left, and she was dealing with it well - ... Read >

The Stepchild’s Point of View

My son became a stepchild at nine, after being the only child of a single mom since he could remember. When he grew up, he shared this with me: "The odd thing for a child who becomes part of a stepfamily is that their sense of the safe and familiar become... Read >

Step Families – The Trouble with Expectations

Step families have their own version of a "happily ever after" myth - generally there's an expectation that the remarriage will heal the family from the trauma of divorce. My son was nine, and my husband's daughter was six when we married; in my mind we w... Read >