143: Stepparents: Marrying Into A Challenging Stepfamily Arrangement
Episode description
Kathy Hammond is a 27-year veteran stepmom, writer, speaker, and award-winning author. In her second book, How to Kill Your Husband’s Ex, Attorneys, and Then Some: Ass Kickin’ Advice for Stepmoms, Kathy delivers a uniquely off-center perspective and advice for stepmoms to keep their sanity and money intact in challenging stepfamily arrangements. Kathy has an M.A. in Organizational Management and speaks and writes on motivation, goal setting, and goal attainment. She is the CEO of a recruitment solution firm in Southern California, where she lives with her husband, John. Kathy is stepmom to two, now grown, sons.
On This Episode- How to navigate the often tricky road of stepparenting
- How to take on the new role of stepparent
- What to do and what not to do when disciplining stepchildren
“You know, it's a dysfunctional arrangement, to begin with.” [1:51]
“I'm not trying to replace their mom, how do you balance that? How do you negotiate that? You don't pretend that you're their parent.” [4:00]
“It takes people time to get used to the situation.” [8:19]
“You need to empathize. One of the things that I also recommend too is for stepmoms to encourage their spouses, to sit down with the ax once a year, at least.” [10:22]
“The adults who are supposed to be protecting these kids are behaving like kids.” [19:08]
“It takes time to develop any relationship.” [21:54]
“I think that anytime we get involved, we actually make things worse.” [26:50]
ResourcesThe PBT Institute Membership Community
The Post Betrayal Syndrome Quiz