Redefining the Stepparenting Role

A workshop for any stepparents out there going "How the f*ck do I do this?!"

Intro & welcome

Hello & welcome! Today we’re taking a deeper dive into finding our place as stepparents.

As a former single mom, whatever challenges I faced during single parenthood were nothing compared to the challenges I faced in becoming a stepmom. At first, I blamed myself, thinking I must be doing something wrong. Turns out, blending a family is a steep learning curve, even under the best of circumstances.

And yet, no one talks about this. Which can leave you feeling, as I did, like you’re the only stepparent who doesn’t have this gig figured out.

I promise, it’s not just you.

In this workshop, we’re gonna learn:

• What does finding our place as stepparents even mean?

• How do we stepparent?

• What makes stepparenting so friggin’ hard?

• How can we make that necessary shift from total overwhelm to feeling more secure in our role and reaching a place of (relative) stepparenting peace?

We’ll cover this in 4 sections:

1. The 5 main pressure points of stepparenting

2. Making the shift into a stepparenting role that works for us: 4 BIG STEPS

3. Quick recap + a pep talk

4. Q&A with me & Dan

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There is no magic button (but we can do hard things!)

To prep for this workshop, I asked everyone to send in questions ahead of time and one person just sent in “How the fuck do I even do this??” — perfect question, btw. How DO we??

Although there is no magic button and the process of stepparenting is one that literally takes years, understanding more about what we’re up against as stepparents can go a long way toward making this role feel more doable.

There are 5 main pressure points that impact the stepparenting role:

1. The nature of stepfamily dynamics

2. The role you play as a stepparent

3. Your partner’s support (or lack thereof)

4. How your stepkids respond

5. The ex factor

The key to successfully navigating stepparenthood is to break these elements down into baby steps. So instead of facing one massively steep learning curve, we’re gonna look at each individual aspect and learn how they all affect each other… and, in turn, how they affect you as an individual.

From there, you can effectively tackle and resolve these pain points one at a time — untangling the confusing mess that stepparenting feels like right now.

Let’s get started! 💪🏼