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Why Your StepMom Friend Has it Harder than You

8/20/2018

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​“But you don’t really have to actually DO that much - I mean they already have a mom,” my girlfriend naively prodded deeper, trying to sooth her own twinge of insecurity I accidentally hit. The familiar pang of hurt hit my stomach as I knowingly suppressed my urge to educate her on what StepMoms actually do..."

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I recently leaked.

Not like white pants, woman's worst nightmare, kill-me-now leaked (thank god)… I StepMom leaked.

Over coffee with a close girlfriend and wonderful mother of three boys the other day, I caught myself sharing a hint of frustration that arose last week with my stepdaughters’ mother. My “leak” was nothing big - It was much like any other woman would share with a friend about the insane runaround that hits every household the week before school begins. The new schedule coordination and early bedtimes. The three coffees to get us through school clothes shopping. The pulling of teeth to finish last minute summer reading… and for me, the flack I received from BioMom about the type of shoes I bought and her disdain for the color pants we had selected… The instant I saw my girlfriend's eyebrows rise when I mentioned the hint of contention that often exists between my stepdaughter’s biological mother and myself, I knew I had hit the Mom Nerve that StepMoms tiptoe around on a daily basis. I quickly ended my thought with a positive comment about the new tee shirts the girls’ mom had just bought them, and redirected the conversation toward the handsome new social studies teacher her daughter and my stepdaughter shared. “But you don’t really have to actually DO that much, I mean they already have a mom,” my girlfriend naively prodded deeper, trying to sooth her own twinge of insecurity I accidentally hit. The familiar pang of hurt hit my stomach as I knowingly suppressed my urge to educate her on what StepMoms actually do. Instead, I smiled and said simply, “It helps my husband for me to do these things for the kids when they’re at our house." And I left it at that.

Over the years, I’ve learned when talking with BioMom friends, that this kind of embarrassingly primitive validation for my participation in my step kids’ lives was generally needed in these situations. I’ve found that most women who are not StepMoms themselves simply don’t understand and can’t comprehend an alternative form of maternal care than traditional, biological motherhood. And its rooted in the fear that we will replace them - render them unneeded. Little did my well-meaning girlfriend know that for years these little souls have come to me for comfort when they fell sad or had a fight with a friend. Little did she know that it was me who scared away the closet monsters and caressed their foreheads to sooth them to sleep at night. She had no idea that I happily took them to the EXACT store they NEEDED to go to, because it had the EXACT tee shirt they MUST have for school. She could not comprehend that although they weren’t born from my body, for years I have been what they've known as their maternal figure for 50% of their childhood in our home. And even with this level of maternal participation in their lives, Mom still safely remains Mom. Contrary to popular BioMom fear, the maternal role of StepMom does not obliterate the role of BioMom - to have both is simply a reality of the modern stepfamily, that too many mothers haven’t yet accepted.

Are any of your girlfriends StepMoms? How well do you know them? I mean how well do you really know them? Do you know the challenges they face? Our culture has positioned StepMoms in a precarious role. Thanks, Hollywood, for labeling us women who remarried men with children as the “wicked stepmother,” the “Stepmonster,” or the gold-digging-young-bimbo-who-married-dad... truly - we owe you for that one.

In addition to the normal challenges of fostering a healthy family and happy marriage (a challenge and of itself since one out of every two marriages in the U.S. ends in divorce), StepMoms face far more challenges than other women - challenges that diminish our social network, our sense of womanhood, and our feelings of belonging to a community. StepMoms often encounter greater guardedness and suspicion from other women, as though we entered with malice as home wreckers to steal husbands, capture the children and brainwash them all into accepting us as their new, exclusive Mom.

The truth is, most StepMoms work really hard to take care of their husbands, step-kids and households. In a perfect world, divorced parents would want their children to feel loved and fully accepted by both parents and new stepparents - right? For the addition of new family members to mean just more love and support for the kids. Unfortunately, the more common reality of resistance to the StepMom often leads to greater conflict and confusion. And StepMoms frequently feel alienated, misunderstood and alone - afraid to appear as though we love our step kids too much or too little. We face challenges that differ from biological moms and other women. Research suggests StepMoms experience significantly greater anxiety and depression than biological mothers. And yet, being a StepMom is becoming the norm. Forty-two million adults in the U.S. have been married more than once, and over half of all US families are remarried or recouped. That means 1,300 stepfamilies form each day in this country. Fifty percent of all women are likely at some point in their life, to live in a stepfamily relationship (either married or as live-in committed partners).

So why is it so difficult for StepMoms? Research suggests that 50% of ex-wives still feel intensely angry with their former spouses - read: BITTER. In their twenty and thirty-year longitudinal studies, both family researchers Constance Ahrons and Mavis Hetherington uncovered that women tend to nurture feelings of hostility far longer after divorce than men do. Meanwhile men tend to foster hopes of greater peace in the blended family after divorce. It was also found that BioMoms often cling onto fantasies of either reconciliation with their ex-husband, or at least a specific (often overly entangled) picture of co-parenting. This sets the stage for conflict off the bat between BioMoms and StepMoms. BioMoms can feel very resentful of the new wife and marriage, and Hubby may avoid rocking the boat, and so remains entangled with BioMom in a way that is unhealthy for the new marriage. Studies have shown that Dads with shared custody tend to fear alienation from their children, which can cause them to retreat from situations of conflict with BioMom. This creates a situation where BioMom has greater influence in Dad/StepMom’s home, parenting styles and rules, allowing inconsistent or unhealthy boundaries that affect new marriages and stepfamily life negatively.

Hetherington also found that StepMoms were more often singled out by stepchildren and treated poorly - typically when children picked up on BioMom’s anger, hostility or jealousy. This is thought to be a way for the children to show support for BioMom or to help her feel better about the whole situation. Many divorced parents are unable to separate their emotional needs from the children's needs, and often share too much of their personal life with them. This can create a breeding ground for parental alienation and confusion for everyone - all pointing to StepMom’s addition as the culprit.

For StepMoms to nurture healthy families and marriages requires a close and consistent partnership between her and her husband. It also requires great bravery and development of new skillsets to set healthy boundaries with BioMom, and natural encouragement of eventual loving relationships with step kids. This can take years, and in the meantime StepMoms frequently feel alone during huge turbulences in their lives while these dynamics shift. Like any big change, often times they shift back and forth, causing frustration many other women don’t understand. With the prevalence of StepMoms on the rise, it is time to talk about these dynamics more boldly, and bring awareness to the undertones of a newly developing cultural shift within American families. Step kids do best when both stepfamily homes are stable, loving and supportive. They learn healthy relationship dynamics not witnessed in the failed marriage, through the new marriage. And the health and happiness of StepMoms is critical, since they continue to help lead a rising number of stepfamily households across the nation. 

If you’re a StepMom, and you are lacking a community of women who understand, join our StepMom Tribe. If you’re a friend of a StepMom and just opening your eyes to all she has been through, share this with her. Let her know that although you’re not in her shoes, you’re starting to understand her nontraditional role and its complexities. Let her know that you SEE her, APPRECIATE her, and welcome her as a maternal figure in your world. And for the love of all that is good - Hug a StepMom today.

Resources:
  • Step Family Foundation, “Stepfamily Statistics” http://www.stepfamily.org/stepfamily-statistics.html
  • Stepmom Magazine, “Stepfamily Statistics” https://www.stepmommag.com/stepfamily-statistics/
  • Psych Central, “ Why its Harder to Love a Stepmom” https://blogs.psychcentral.com/mixing-bowl/2016/04/harder-love-stepmom/
  • Psychology Today, “Why its Easier to Love a Stepfather then a Stepmother” https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/stepmonster/201106/why-its-easier-love-stepfather-stepmother
  • ​Huffington Post, "Singing the Stepmother Blues" Mary T. Kelley https://www.huffingtonpost.com/mary-t-kelly-ma/singing-the-stepmother-bl_b_3683834.html 
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10 Ways to Help Your Wife as a StepMom

8/13/2018

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This article is a go-to for so many StepMoms. Our hubbys love us and want to help us feel like we belong... but sometimes they have no idea how. This article, written by the husband of a StepMom is simple and helpful. It will help you know your feelings are normal, and it can help strengthen the partnership between the two of you in this journey. Read it, love it, then send it to your Hubs. 
​xo
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10 WAYS TO HELP YOUR WIFE AS A STEPMOM

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Welcome to your StepMom Tribe, sisters.

8/13/2018

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Welcome to your tribe, ladies. I'm Taylor Love, founder of StepMom Tribe. I'm a Colorado wife, daughter, sister, and friend - and a stepmother to two beautiful teenage girls. A lover to an incredible, smart and handsome man I proudly call my husband. In less than a decade of stepmothering, I've experienced more difficult human dynamics than I thought possible.

I've lived the bliss of the honeymoon blended family - two households who could share dinner and activities, catch up over a glass of wine while we watched the girls play. I've seen (and been) a woman at her worst - with all shades of ugly oozing out of her in the form of anger, jealousy, resentment and frustration. I've experienced the receiving end of hatred and cruelty from another woman in a way I thought no human would ever behave toward me - if not because I have a soft and kind heart, then simply because it broke all predictable rules of woman code - a privilege I later realized I had unknowingly forfeited when I chose the role of stepmother. For the life of my relationship, I've existed knowing I've come second to a woman who bore my husband's children, honeymooned with him, celebrated his youth and co-created direction of his life that I've now inherited. My schedule and preferences are privy to the wants, needs and desires of another woman. I've been torn down to my core, and have built myself back up time and time again. I have nurtured my husband through emotional, physical and financial losses - many incurred by a woman who struggles to know whether she hates or loves him still. I've placed my foot for what I thought could be the last time on my door step, certain there was no way all of us would survive if I stayed.

And... I've loved two little beings like my own flesh and blood - who did not emerge from my body, but to whom I've given everything I have - I've provided for them, wiped their tears, celebrated their joys, listened to their hearts deeply. I've savored the sweet embrace of being drawn into this beautiful family of three - I've experienced the depths of humility as a little girl tells me she loves me for the very first time. I've been celebrated on their lovingly crafted "stepmom day" for the first time in my kitchen. I've seen the genuine peace that spreads across my husband's face when these little souls came to me for nurturance, love and attention. I've seen the comfort and assurance my stepchildren feel when their daddy and I exchange "I love you's" to one another. I've spend late nights with my husband, through blood, sweat and tears, creating ways to strength and protect our stepfamily's bond, peace and sweetness. I've cried as we promised each other we were stronger than any forces trying to come between us or our family. 

​This ride is wild, and my love runs deep. And the more I open to other stepmothers, the more I learn how incredibly common my life is in this complex reality as a stepmother. And the more I realize I was missing belonging to a tribe - like mothers do with one another, like I did as a woman before my stepmother incarnation... Like me, other StemMoms have yearned to feel understood, a part of something, to belong to.... a tribe. Its how we're all programmed to exist. So, to my stepmother sisters out there - welcome home, to your tribe. 

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    Taylor Love, Colorado wife, daughter, sister, friend, and stepmom.

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Contact me at taylorslovetribe@gmail.com
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