Stepfamily dynamics can be complex and challenging. Differing opinions, parenting styles, sibling rivalries, and failed bonding sessions are just a few things these blended households face.
The Redditor, u/Grouchy_Tap_8264, shared a friend’s story that encapsulates this perfectly. Their buddy’s stepmother made her husband cut all ties with his daughter, breaking their connection for 30 years. However, after the lady’s death, the father is now trying to redeem himself and reunite with his child.
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The heroine’s wicked stepmother did everything to make her life difficult
Image credits: Field Engineer / pexels (not the actual photo)
After the cruel lady passed away, her life insurance money was used to pay off the detested stepdaughter’s mortgage
Image credits: Brett Sayles / pexels (not the actual photo)
Image credits: Grouchy_Tap_8264
Stepparents and their complex challenges
It might be surprising, but stepfamilies make up a large portion of households. 40% of families in the U.S. are blended, with 1,300 new ones formed every day.
It takes the average family five to seven years to fully blend. And during this process, a whopping 75% say they don’t have the resources to navigate their new domestic situation. Without the proper knowledge, it can be difficult to successfully combine two families.
Adults going into new families face quite a few challenges. Bonding with their stepchildren can be difficult, as the kids may feel reluctant to trust them. The younger ones might be quicker at trusting and loving them as parents, but teenagers feel that you have to earn their trust and respect. In addition, an adult entering a household without children of their own can feel even more stressed while bonding and learning a new role.
The changed dynamic can also complicate the relationship between parents. Arguments over rules and setting boundaries may arise during the blending period. Before this arrangement, each household was accustomed to their own routine and the way they did things, down to their bedtime. Because quarrels about, for example, screen time are something they probably haven’t discussed before moving in together, it’s harder to prevent them.
Interestingly, the role of stepmothers tends to be more difficult, as they are faced with contradicting expectations. On one hand, a woman is supposed to be motherly, but as a stepmother, she should remain more distant. It’s difficult to balance being close, welcoming, and standoffish at the same time. Myths also surround stepmothers, which complicates the combination of households. They are often portrayed as evil, and this easily creates negative feelings for children.
Another misconception is that love comes easily and naturally to stepmothers. In reality, it takes time and many years of effort to mesh a family. For some, love never happens, and many stepmothers feel troubled when they don’t feel immediate care for their stepchildren. These feelings can further lead to destructive co-parenting and separate the stepmother and the stepchildren. But it doesn’t give them the right to act like the villain of this story. 
Image credits: Karolina Grabowska / pexels (not the actual photo)
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Challenged stepparents effect children as well
Growing up in such environments can greatly effect children. The aftermath of divorce may leave them feeling abandoned by their biological parents. As a result, they might start to rebel against having to share space and attention with siblings they don’t know well yet.
Later, when the children gradually start caring for the new family, they might struggle with confusing emotions. They may worry that loving the new family means betraying the biological one, which can cause emotional outbursts.
Research on family structure also found that children in one-parent, blended, and stepfamilies are more likely to suffer from mental disorders than those in nuclear ones. Some of them include separation anxiety disorder, major depressive disorder, and conduct disorder. It also revealed that children from stepfamilies left their homes, entered romantic relationships, and identified themselves as adults earlier on.
It’s not to say that all children in blended families grow up with negative consequences. With greater care, patience, and help, many of them turn out just fine. Let’s just hope that the heroine of the story wasn’t greatly affected by her dysfunctional stepfamily and was able to fill the void in her heart with content.
The upset people went off in the comments
Others sympathized and shared their own stepfamily stories
The post Wicked Stepmother Forces Her Husband To Cut Ties With Daughter, Gets Karma After Her Death first appeared on Bored Panda.
Source: boredpanda.com