10 Best Step Parenting Books
Updated on: September 2023
Best Step Parenting Books in 2023
STEP PARENTING: 50 One-Minute DOs and DON'Ts for Stepdads and Stepmoms
The Parent's Handbook: Systematic Training for Effective Parenting
Stepfamilies: Love, Marriage, and Parenting in the First Decade
The Smart Stepdad: Steps To Help You Succeed
Building Love Together in Blended Families: The 5 Love Languages and Becoming Stepfamily Smart
Stepmonster: A New Look at Why Real Stepmothers Think, Feel, and Act the Way We Do
The Single Girl's Guide to Marrying a Man, His Kids, and His Ex-Wife: Becoming A Stepmother With Humor And Grace
The Stepmoms' Club: How to Be a Stepmom without Losing Your Money, Your Mind, and Your Marriage
1-2-3 Magic: 3-Step Discipline for Calm, Effective, and Happy Parenting
Smart Stepfamily: Seven Steps To A Healthy Family
Understanding Step Parenting Problems
Your becoming a new step parent and you need to respect the child to gain respect.
Some children resent a new stepparent because they are upset over the loss of the birth parent. This can happen in the best of families. Step parenting in this case needs to be taken lightly, do not try to force your thoughts and lifestyle on the child. You both need to warm up to the fact that you live together and need to get along. A good way for this to work would be to ask a question about their day, find out how things are going in school or play. If you know the hobby or sport that interests the child, this might be a way to bond. Do an activity with the child that they enjoy.
Step parenting does not always work in the beginning, in some cases the child may play one parent against another. Kids are smart and if they know you will do anything to win their trust, they can try to get their way with you and not the other parent. This is a common occurrence in step parenting, which needs addressing before it happens. Who will say what and do what as far as what the child can and cannot do is needed. If you work together as a family, things can and will work out when you take on the responsibilities of step parenting.
There may also be a need for a little understanding on the part of the stepparent as far as the discipline. It takes a while for natural parents as well as children to allow someone else to show authority and hand out punishments. Step parenting does require some degree of discipline, but this should only come after a period of adjustment and a bond of some sort has formed. If you over step your bounds in the beginning, you may have a hard time forming a bond with the child.
Step parenting is just as wonderful as being a natural parent. One can enjoy the years they spend with stepchildren as long as they start out in the right direction. Step parenting also can develop into a much stronger bond than the child had with a natural parent. This does not affect how the child feels about the natural parent, it just happens because child trust more than they hate and distrust.
