• Stepmothers: Can We Create a Soft Place to Land for Our Children? Ourselves? Our Partners?(Source: coloribus.com) Dr. Laura Schlesinger always advises her clients that they should never marry a person with children.  She advises that divorced parents should focus should on the children and there is not room for another person.  She also argues that there will always be resentments on all

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    Stepmoms Should Stay in Our Business Is everything that happens in our families "our" business?  Are we often getting involved in "other people's" business? This is the key discussion for today's show.  What do I mean?  I have always found it challenging to discern what exactly is "my business" within the family.  We may think that everything is our business, but is that true? You might

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    Stepmothers Sometimes Feel As If Their Bodies and Minds Have Been Overtaken By Their Stepmother Role A step family can be like living in a haunted house.  There are ghosts and goblins behind every corner.  Every time you think that things are going well, “Boo!” another monster comes out of the woodwork and you are back to ‘square one’.  We all have experienced these phenomena.  A

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    10 Tips to Becoming the Joyful StepmotherImage by Marylou Falstreau Joy?!  What is she talking about?  I'm just trying to survive this stepfamily thing.  Remember, it's the simple things in life that really make a difference.  How many times have you wondered, "Did I make a mistake?"  Have you harbored thoughts that you may never be happy as a stepmother?  This class gives you 10 tips on

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    One Day We Became Stepmothers. One Day She Stopped Listening to Stories of Fear and Worry and Found the Freedom She Always Desired One Day She Understood She Had Been Perfect All Along One Day She Understood She Had Been A Hero All Along These lovely sentiments are the words of MaryLou Falstreau, poet, artist and our guest on today's show. Love, love, love MaryLou Falsteau's

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    Stepmothers: There is Light at The End of the Stepfamily Tunnel Even though you don't want to be "that" evil stepmother, you find yourself still hating the ex-wife.  You are convinced that she hates you.   You think she does anything in her power to disrupt your life.  You also have thoughts about the stepchildren and often think that they are sabotaging you. You've listened to some of my

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    Stepmothers: Do You Have a Financial Plan? I don't think you can ever talk too much about money and how it is being managed within our stepfamilies.  Money may be an issue of great divide or great avoidance.  But, we have to face it.  One of my greatest fears in taking on a stepmother role was, "What's going to happen to me?"  Seriously.  What is going to happen to me in my old age?  Who

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    Stepmothers are the Olympians of Life Here's  short tip for stepmothers that have ever thought or said: "I Can't Win!" Haven't we all said these words?  Doesn't it feel as if all stepmothers are an Olympic trial every day of the week?  This blog is written the week of the Summer Olympics 2012.  Since all of us are watching the #Olympics, it seems like a perfect week to discuss "winning'. In

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      Stepmom Help May Come from The Birds of Central Park.Can You See the Forest for the Trees? Have you ever heard of the The Central Park effect?  I had never heard of it until this weekend when I was channel surfing  and landed on a movie called "Birders: The Central Park Effect".     As birds migrate from the East Coast to the West Coast, they look for places to land so they can

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    Stepmom Advice: Should the Stepmom and Mom be Girlfriends? Stepmom Advice: The Gift of the Girlfriend I would not have been able to survive in my life without my girlfriends. Period.  One of the best stepmom advice is to treasure your girlfriends.  Their silence and their gift of listening is a powerful tool for your stepmom toolbox.  Our girlfriends are our place to vent.  Their trust is

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