Blending a family is far more messy and complicated than any television show portrays. Beyond the Brady Bunch is a heart book, not a how-to book. Christians who find themselves in the midst of step-family life often feel hopeless and far from God, struggling with grief and unforgiveness. From personal experience the authors have found that all the how-to steps in the world don’t work if there isn’t first a heart change. Speaking with honesty and vulnerability they share their own mistakes and how God dealt with their hearts. The book will help stretch hearts, minds and homes past the image of “perfect” and another “happily ever after” into the hope of God’s promise to restore, heal and rebuild.

Read more…Beyond the Brady Bunch: Hope and Help for Blended Families

The warning comes as a five-year-old boy remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital after inhaling a Lego piece on the Gold Coast last night.

It also follows a study that found 105 children had presented at Queensland emergency departments with injuries from magnets between 1999 and 2009 – most of whom were more than three years old.

KidSafe Queensland executive officer Susan Teerds said parents of young children should continually reinforce the risk of swallowing small objects in the same way they would if the child had allergies or required gluten-free food.

Ms Teerds said children under three should not have access to objects that would fit through the inside of a toilet roll, such as Lego.

Read more…Parents warned on Lego after child nearly chokes

Half of all women in the United States will live with or marry a man with children. And what woman with stepchildren has not—in order to defuse the often overwhelming challenges of the role—referred to herself as a “stepmonster”?

As Hope Edelman does in her book for motherless daughters, Wednesday Martin’s empowering and original Stepmonster unlocks the emotional mysteries of why stepmothers think and feel and act the way they do. Martin draws upon her own experience as a stepmother, interviews with other stepmothers and stepchildren, and fascinating insights from literature, anthropology, psychology, and evolutionary biology to reveal the little-understood realities of this most demanding role.

Stepmonster illuminates the harrowing process of becoming a stepmother, considers the myths and realities of being married to a man with children, counteracts the cultural notion that stepmothers are solely responsible for the challenges they encounter, identifies the “Five Step-Dilemmas That Create Conflict,” and considers the emotional and social challenges men with children face when they remarry.

Finally, in an unexpected twist, Martin shows why the myth of the Wicked Stepmother is our single best tool for understanding who real stepmothers are and how they feel.

Read more…Stepmonster: A New Look at Why Real Stepmothers Think, Feel, and Act the Way We Do

	The Single Girl’s Guide to Marry… by Sally Bjornsen $10.08
	No One’s the Bitch: A Ten-Step P… by Jennifer Newcomb Marine $12.20
	The Enlightened Stepmother: Revo… by Perdita K. Norwood $10.85

Please leave a comment listing the support group or groups that you are aware of.

Don’t forget you can get online support via the Stepfamily Zone Forums

With over 30 million children living with a stepparent, blended families are one of the fastest growing segments of families in the United States, but unlike the nicely packaged problems seen on Television, these families struggle with issues that are anything but easy.

Read more…Blended Families Face Unique Challenges | Stepfamily Australia

More than one in five families with two parents is a stepfamily, and eight million children live in stepfamilies. The stepfamily is both a wonderful blessing and a challenge.

Drawing on their own experiences, and that of the stepfamilies with whom they have worked. Robert and Jeanette Lauer give realistic, helpful advice on how to deal with the major challenges in stepfamily life: Loss, adjustment, personal identity, family identity, loyalty conflicts, former spouses, resources, stepparenting, and marital intimacy. The authors encourage the formation of stepparent support groups, and an appendix includes activities and suggestions for small-group discussion.

Read more…Becoming Family: How to Build a Stepfamily That Really Works

By understanding the impact that birth order has on each family member, parents are better equipped to ease the transition into a new, different but functional family unit. Using his signature humor and real life examples, Dr. Leman provides both insight and practical advice about discipline, self-respect, parental authority, and the importance of the marriage relationship.

Read more…Living In A Step-family Without Getting Stepped On Helping Your Children Survive The Birth Order Blender

Click the link for more information Instant Baby Sleep

More Information…Baby Sleep

Over 400 pages that explain how to practically parent beyond separation, including the answers to over 60 of the most Frequently Asked Questions gathered through Jill’s years of counselling and coaching. “I can assure you, divorce is not a life sentence to parental failure.

Be encouraged – it can be the beginning of a foundation firmly based on living a more authentic and meaningful life with your children. Your children can also have the best of both worlds, as my children frequently describe their lives.” “Throughout these pages, you will read part of my own story and learn about those things that have worked well and those that have not.

You will read about others who have walked their path and the effects of their choices. All of this combines to form a uniquely positive perspective on parenting beyond separation; the focus is on raising children who are free from the separation scars that have become painfully normal.”

Read more…Parenting with the Ex Factor: How to raise children in a Complex Family (Volume 1)

This
is a really helpful book for someone involved with a man getting a
divorce. It really makes the woman feel in control and also makes her
think about why is she really dating an unavailable man.

Excellent   June 3, 2009
Just lookin’ (Portland, OR USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

This
book offers the perfect balance. It gives you a dose of reality
(“assume you’re the transitional woman”), but it also has some chapters
with very practical advice for those who decide to continue to date
separated men against the odds.

I do have two recommendations for the author (for future editions),

1. Give some examples of how to put the relationship “on hold.” It
sounds like it is typical for couples to decide to take a break till
the divorce papers are final. But finalized papers signal just the
“legal” end of the divorce; not the “emotional” end. How do you take a
break till the emotional issues are sorted out? Do you set a timeline
(say, 6 months after the finalized divorce) or do you wait till certain
emotional indicators are in place?

2. Most of the references to the “transitional woman” assumes that
you are the very first person to seriously date the divorcing man. But
sometimes, the second or third or fourth woman is a “transitional”
woman for him as well, because he still hasn’t completed his emotional
work to get over the turmoil of his divorce! With one man, I was his
second serious relationship post-separation; with another man, I was
his third. I would say that I was a “transitional” person for both of
them; with devastating consequences. The author could have offered more
clues/signs, to figure out whether the guy’s transitional phase is
over.

And one piece of advice to readers: GIVE A COPY OF THIS BOOK TO
YOUR GUY to read! The book might upset him, but it also might give him
some insight to himself, and learn to see the relationship from your
perspective.

Use your own judgment…   February 19, 2008
R. Moore (Charleston, WV)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful

This
book had its good points, but I would suggest assessing your situation
and going from there. A lot of the things mentioned in the book did not
apply to me, so I am sure everyone is in a different situation.
Considering children involved, the divorce will take longer; and even
longer if there are a lot of assets. Good book to reference, but don’t
live by it.

Hits the nail right on the head   February 15, 2008
Carolyn Johnson (Fairdale, KY)
1 out of 3 found this review helpful

I highly recommend this book to any woman that is contemplating this roller coaster ride of a relationship.

How to Survive Your Boyfriend’s Divorce   December 4, 2007
Diane Byram (Tulsa OK)
4 out of 7 found this review helpful

This
is a great book but from personal experience – WAIT TILL THE DIVORCE IS
FINALED!!! He will be available to take your relationship to another
level. When you are dating a divorcing man or seperated man it is the
same as dating a married man. He isn’t available for you and you get
the leftover crumbs. He is emotionally wounded and there is a good
possibility that he will wound you by the time this drama is all said
and done. Love should be wonderful and carefree but when a man has a
divorce looming over his head he cannot be that wonderful person. He
hasn’t finished ending his previous relationship and there are
oftentimes unresolved feelings of some sort. I dated my guy for about a
year. He had been seperated from his ex for 2 years so I felt confident
that he had done some healing in that time – WRONG. The relationship
went from hot to cold to luke warm….he didn’t know what he wanted and
he just began to emotionally withdraw. It is painful to go through
that. He did nothing for me and everything for his ex. We as women tend
to be compassionate, understanding, and helpful sometimes at our own
expense. I loved my man dearly but I had finally come to a point in our
relationship where I needed his divorce to be DONE. I explained to him
that I could no longer see him until his divorce was done….He got
upset, stated that I hurt him….I tried to talk to him to get close
again but he was bitter, lonely, and hurt. He went out to the
bars…found another woman….finished his divorce within 6 months of
our break and married his new woman 6 months later…so a year after he
left me he remarried. It hurts. Trust me when I say…You DO NOT want
to be the rebound or transitional woman. It is far too painful. Just
knowing that she has all the good parts about him still hurts. While
this book offers man

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