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Stepkids: A Survival Guide for Teenagers in Stepfamilies
Stepkids A Survival Guide for Teenagers in Stepfamilies Author:Carolyn McClenahan, Ann Getzoff Of the more than 25 million stepfamilies currently in the U.S., about 20 million include at least one teenager. And since adolescence is a troubled time in any family, these particular teenagers have more than a normal share of problems with their stepkid status. But as the authors of Stepkids points out, they have an advantage as we... more »ll: unlike younger children, teenagers have the power to improve their family situations. The authors of this book show them how to do it.
They begin by reassuring readers about the feelings and confusions they may have about their parents' divorce, about adjusting to life with newly single [and often troubled] parents, and trying to make the further sharp adjustment that is demanded by a parent's remarriage [or other new sexual partnership]. They answer many troubling questions, often with case histories from their professional experience, on such varied subjects as: Am I expected to love my stepparent? What shall I call my stepmom or stepdad? How do I cope with a stepparent whose ideas and demands are so different from what I am used to?
The special pangs and problems of visiting absent parents are discussed, as is the parent who has, for whatever reason, disappeared from a child's life. The authors address the problems that can -- and often do -- arise with stepbrothers and stepsisters, the stepparent who favors his or her own child, parents who fight over the teenager.
Special problems having to do with sex and sexual attraction arise in stepfamilies; these are discussed in frank and sensible detail.
Packed with solid, realistic advice and unusually aware of the teenager's own point of view [as well as the adult's], this book is indispensable for even the most well-adjusted stepfamily, whose enviably good family life, can, with the authors' help, be made even better.« less