Maybe you meet someone new, and one or both of you already have kids.
Maybe you and your partner have kids together, adding to the bunch.
At a Glance
Blending families can be a challenging but rewarding process.
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Children particularly take time to adjust to changes in their family structure and accept stepparents into their lives.
Its important for you and your partner to navigate this process with patience, love, and care.
What Does a Blended Family Mean?
These are some of the dynamics you might encounter in a blended family.
Partner Relationship
You and your partner are the foundation of a blended family.
By deciding to merge your lives together, you bring your children together as well.
Both of you may have kids already, or one of you may be new to parenting.
Either way, this involves navigating your relationship with each other while also introducing the children to a newstepparent.
Kids who have grown up and moved away may come by once in a while.
How Soon Is Too Soon to Blend Families?
Introducing your children to your new partner.
Including your partner in rituals you and your children do together.
Letting them spend time together without you.
As a parent, each of these steps can be tricky and nerve-wracking.
Whether youremoving intogether or getting married, it can be hard to pinpoint the right time to do it.
Otherwise, any turbulence in your relationship can also affect them.
Its also important to give everyone time to adjust to the new dynamic.
Addressing Discipline in a Blended Family
Discipline and boundaries can be tricky in a blended family.
This can be difficult, particularly if the relationship ended on bad terms.
However, maintaining a cooperative relationship is important, for the sake of the children.
As everyones love stretches to accomodate new family members, a unique and resilient unit emerges.
Silverberg B.Care of diverse families: single-parent, multigenerational, and blended families.FP Essent.
2015 Jun 1;77(3):761-774. doi: 10.1111/jomf.12181
