Like the title of "Queen," mother is a name you have for life.
Vicki Larson | Posted 05.10.2012
As we slide into Mother's Day, it's clear that we're somewhat murky on what we're celebrating. Somehow, we moms are revered and problematic at the same time, and some are more problematic than others.
Raina Wallens | Posted 05.08.2012
It's stepparents -- the very people who don't actually have an official day -- who could, well, kind of use one.
HuffingtonPost.com | Natasha Burton | Posted 05.05.2012
To stepmother Judy Osborne, Mother’s Day is “the hardest day of the year.” Osborne, a Brookline, Mass.-based marriage and family therapist, ...
Ann Blumenthal Jacobs | Posted 05.21.2012
Mom was in her late 30s when I was born. In the suburbs of the 50s, that could have gone down in Ripley's Believe it or Not, but, it was dealt with directly -- she lied about her age.
Joel Schwartzberg | Posted 11.29.2011
What message does the word "stepmother" convey more clearly than "You're NOT a mother"? And why does a father's new wife need to be contextualized in relation to the mother at all? It declares a winner... as if society doesn't already halo moms over non-moms enough.
Nina Lorez Collins | Posted 09.20.2011
When I got married, at twenty-three, I became a stepmother to a seven-year-old-boy. I'd known Jonah since he was four, and his parents had divorced wh...
AP | JOE MANDAK | Posted 09.13.2011
SLIPPERY ROCK, Pa. — A man killed his father and stepmother in western Pennsylvania, then tried to cover up the slayings with a story claiming t...
cnn.com | Posted 07.04.2011
Mother's Day is a sad occasion for many, but not all of the 15 million U.S. stepmothers who have stepchildren under the age of 18. As it approaches...
Vicki Larson | Posted 06.12.2011
I wouldn't say that I'd been cocky about my aging parents -- I knew at some point they would pass. But for a long time, as I watched my friends strugg...
Joel Schwartzberg | Posted 05.25.2011
Old habits die hard, but when it comes to Valentine's Day traditions you had with a former spouse, die they must. When you're in a subsequent marriag...
washingtonpost.com | Carol Morello | Posted 05.25.2011
Call them blended families, bonus families or para-kin. Just don't call them stepfamilies. The term -- seared into our consciousness through fairy tal...
Joel Schwartzberg | Posted 05.25.2011
The stepmother is probably the least-defined role in the contemporary family structure: She is a parent, yet not the parent. A caregiver but not alway...
Wednesday Martin | Posted 11.17.2011
Stepfamilies often experience extraordinary stress as the holidays--with their pressure cooker of "family" expectations--get underway. So, let go of the Three Big Myths of Stepfamily life.
Rachelle Katz | Posted 11.17.2011
Being a stepmother can be one of the most challenging roles in society, and one that often receives little support, understanding, and appreciation from others.
Wednesday Martin | Posted 05.25.2011
Many women suffer from what I call Stepmartyr Syndrome--embracing the notion that they are going to make it all better for everyone, whatever the cost to them personally.
Rachelle Katz | Posted 11.17.2011
As a psychotherapist and stepmother, I know from both personal and professional experience the difficulties faced by many stepmothers. Have you considered joining a support group?
Wednesday Martin | Posted 11.17.2011
Until there is better support, public education, and understanding, here are ten research-based resolutions stepfamilies can make to usher in a new decade of stepfamily satisfaction.
Wednesday Martin | Posted 11.17.2011
Shunting the husband/wife relationship to the back burner whenever the stepchildren are around is, it turns out, a recipe for marital and step-family disaster.
Wednesday Martin | Posted 11.17.2011
We're hearing a lot about the new U.S. Census these days and many might wonder what, precisely, is at stake. For stepfamilies, the answer is: quite a bit.
Kristen Houghton | Posted 05.10.2012