If your partner’s not setting great boundaries with their high-conflict ex, here are 4 ways stepparents can protect themselves and their own mental health.

Stay and keep fighting to blend your family, or call it quits and leave? This is the question I asked myself almost daily for a solid decade.

What's a stepparent's role look like after disengaging? Here are 4 non-parenting ways you can still be a supportive stepparent.

Is it normal to not like your stepkids when they act too much like your partner’s high-conflict co-parent? Short answer: yes. Longer answer: read this blog.

Need to take a step back from stepparenting? Here's 3 ways you can explain disengaging to your partner in a positive way.

Why is being a stepparent so much harder than regular parenting? And how can we survive the overwhelm of stepdad & stepmom stress and burnout?

Here’s a science-based explanation why stepparenting is stressful enough to negatively impact our mental health.

Is being a stepparent really worth all the nonsense we have to put up with along the way??

Stepparenting can feel like you're stuck arguing in circles. How can we find joy when we're constantly coming up against a brick wall?

Don’t lose yourself so much in the stepparenting role that you forget to have fun! Walking on eggshells is never the best way to bond with your stepkid.

Becoming a stepmom gave me diagnosable c-PTSD and massive anxiety after years & years of living under constant attack in a high-conflict blended family.

Why does society think stepparents aren’t allowed to ever feel tired, ever feel ready for a break, or ever have mixed feelings? Stepparents, you deserve a friggin’ vacation.

It's okay (and normal!) to both love being a stepparent and hate all the complications that living in a blended family brings. Give yourself permission to grieve along the way.

Stepparents take it upon ourselves to do all kinds of Shit That Goes Unrecognized, because we are the only ones who seem to realize that otherwise our stepfamily will not survive.

Will stepparenting ever feel easier? Will blended family ever feel simple? And — most importantly — WHEN??

Do stepparents have a double standard when it comes to stepkids vs. bio kids? They do and they should, but it’s not the kind of double standard you’re thinking. Sometimes, taking a more flexible approach to parenting is ultimately the fairest answer.

If you disengage from your stepkid and step back from stepparenting, could you actually become a better stepmom or stepdad? YEP. Disengaging can be an act of love that gives everyone in your blended family the room they need to blend.