February 14, 2010
The Perils of Step Parenting Teenagers
If you have to start step parenting teenagers, you are first and foremost going to need to get prepared. Teenagers are hard enough to deal with, but when you enter their life as a step parent and trying to start parenting, you are coming in as the bad guy and so they can really do you some damage.
If you are going to be step parenting teenagers however, you should know that there is some great information and advice out there that you can use to your benefit and to help you feel as comfortable with the process as possible.
Don’t be surprised if the teenagers are yelling at you and calling you names at first. You really have to put yourself in their situation to understand. Here they are, a happy family and then one of their parents leaves and they are left in a single parent home.
Then you come along, a stranger to them, into their family and trying to become part of their home. This can be incredibly traumatic to deal with, so if you are going to be step parenting teenagers you really need to take this into consideration and understand the difficulties that can ensue.
Therapy
If you are step parenting teenagers and find that things are not going the way that you would like, one great idea is to start going to therapy. There is single therapy where you would go one on one with a therapist and tell them about your problems, but then there are also the group therapy classes which are available.
Here you would be going in with your entire family and you would all have a chance to speak to the therapist. This is a great idea because it allows everyone in the family their chance to say what is on their mind, something that probably does not usually happen at home when there is not an extra person involved who is mediating things.
You really have to be strong and willing to put in the time and effort if you are going to be step parenting teenagers, but if you love your spouse enough, this really should not be a problem. If you have children as well, you are both going to need to work together to show the kids that yes, you may be with new people but that no, you are not going to stop loving them and that they will always be your children.