Most Popular Blog Posts

There are many things I was not prepared for when I became a stepmom. But one topic that's glaringly at the front of my mind these days is how to talk to and teach my white kids about race and social injustice. Talking About Race Is Hard. And I'll Probably Say The Wrong Thing. [...]

Being a stepmother can be a tough and lonely job. She's got essentially the same level of responsibility as biological parents, but isn't always perceived -or treated- like a parent. And even her closest friends and family may not understand the challenges. Or that just a few supportive words would make a huge difference for [...]

Looking for gifts for the stepmom in your life? Look no further - we have curated 25 of the best stepmom gifts around!

Every day, the news gets scarier and scarier. As I work from home and worry about how this will all impact the kids, I have found myself not sleeping well, and often talking to my husband about a lot of "what ifs." But in the midst of all the uncertainty, I've also seen a huge [...]

Well, life sure does have a way of changing quickly, doesn't it? This time last week, we knew the Coronavirus threat was emerging, but who could have thought that things would be so different in the span of a few short days? And that it would continue to change by the hour.  I'm guessing you [...]

Myths about stepmoms abound. And they're usually not super flattering. Cinderella got her prince, but her story didn't do stepmothers any favors! Hence the nicknames. Stepmonster. Wicked stepmother. Evil stepmother. You get the gist. I'm guessing most people have some sort of preconceived notion about stepmothers, even if subconscious. And even if they don't want [...]

There are few things as relaxing as curling up in a comfortable chair to read a good book. And I don't know about you, but I'm always on the hunt for books that will help me get my life together. They used to call them self-help books. I call them self-care books for women. And [...]

There's a lot of talk these days about self-care. Self-care for moms, self-care for the working woman, self-care for teenagers. But we don't hear much about stepmom self-care. As many as half of all women in the U.S. may find themselves in the role of stepmother at some point in their lives. And although there [...]

One of the things they teach you in Stepmom School is how to bond with your stepkids. Wait, there's a school for this? No, I'm kidding - there is absolutely not a school for stepparents. Which I found out the hard way when I was looking for resources as a new stepmom. Although I'm not [...]

I've written before about how much I love a good handwritten card or letter. So much so that my husband and I now run a handwritten note business. It's easy to fire off an email or text. But it's less easy to convey pure emotion that way. So I wrote a piece recently for Medium [...]

We all know a stepmom's role is unusual. And whether you're called "stepmonster" or "bonus mom", the role is much more complicated than any name you've got. It can be a constant struggle to let go of the anger caused by tough family dynamics. So we decided we would lighten things up and have some fun. [...]

Have you set your New Year's resolutions? If you're like me, you've been thinking about them but haven't put pen to paper just yet. Well, let's change that. I've been thinking a lot lately about how the role of stepparent shapes every aspect of my life. So it occurred to me that maybe we need [...]