FamilyLife Blended® Minute

In Their Shoes

with | May 28, 2019
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A woman I was talking to clearly was wrestling with her childhood. Her parents divorced when she was young. Her mother was devastated; her father quickly married and threw himself into "his new family." This woman became her mom's caretaker and hated her stepmom. No one was safe for her. Parents in complex families do a better job when they step inside their children's shoes, consider how they feel, and remain a stable presence. The transitions for them are hard. They need you to understand.

  • Show Notes

  • About the Host

  • About the Guest

  • A woman I was talking to clearly was wrestling with her childhood. Her parents divorced when she was young. Her mother was devastated; her father quickly married and threw himself into "his new family." This woman became her mom's caretaker and hated her stepmom. No one was safe for her. Parents in complex families do a better job when they step inside their children's shoes, consider how they feel, and remain a stable presence. The transitions for them are hard. They need you to understand.

  • Ron Deal

    Ron L. Deal is one of the most widely read and viewed experts on blended families in the country. He is Director of FamilyLife Blended® for FamilyLife®, founder of Smart Stepfamilies™, and the author and Consulting Editor of the Smart Stepfamily Series of books including the bestselling Building Love Together in Blended Families: The 5 Love Languages® and Becoming Stepfamily Smart (with Dr. Gary Chapman), The Smart Stepfamily: 7 Steps to a Healthy Family, and Preparing to Blend. Ron is a licensed marriage and family therapist, popular conference speaker, and host of the FamilyLife Blended podcast. He and his wife, Nan, have three sons and live in Little Rock, Arkansas. Learn more at FamilyLife.com/blended.

“Ron, what kind of issues come with growing up in a stepfamily?”