When one marriage ends, another might eventually begin. And that means you’ll blend your family with your new partner’s family, for a whole new configuration of personalities, needs, and feelings.
It’s not easy to blend families! Having navigated this herself in a variety of scenarios (as a child, and as a step-mother in a blended family of six), Jordana understands the bumps in the road that can arise from blending two very different groups of interconnected people into one mishmash of a new family. Sometimes it works really well – and sometimes it really doesn’t.
We can help!
Perhaps your children dislike your new spouse. Maybe you don’t like your new step-kids. Or maybe it’s a little bit of everything and more. Whatever the challenge in a blended family, where there is love, there is hope for reconciliation and new connection. It might not look like you imagine – but you can create a harmonious and happy household, with a little bit of guidance and determination.
At least half of all children in the United States live with a biological parent and a step-parent, which is an easy way to define a “blended family.” There may also be step-siblings in the mix – with an array of extended relatives to boot.
Blended Family Counseling involves bringing the parties together to identify their feelings and create new understanding for all family members. You are going to get through to the other side. It may not feel that way at first – not every family blends easily at the outset. “I know what you’re feeling,” Jordana says. “We will work together to move you from a place of discomfort to a place of shared understanding and hopefully, appreciation.”
“It’s very hard for parents to let go,” says Jordana. “There is usually one person who wants the divorce more than the other, so there may be residual feelings. Or people may co-parent well until someone remarries, and then that may introduce toxicity to the co-parenting relationship. It’s a struggle to stay on the right path all the time. We are here to help people get on the right path and stay there.”