Tiny Pep Talks for Stepparents

The challenge of transition days.

💬 Send us a text! (Yes really!)Even if you love having your stepkids in the house, the switcheroo from kid-free to kid-full can feel like... a lot. And if you don't love having your stepkids around — well first of all, that's normal, and secondly that means transition days are that much harder for you. (And don't get me started on the complications of transition days when you're co-parenting with a high-conflict ex so your stepkid's visitation time happens to coincide with some fresh new dram...

Duration:: 1m
Broadcast on:: 19 Jul 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

💬 Send us a text! (Yes really!)

Even if you love having your stepkids in the house, the switcheroo from kid-free to kid-full can feel like... a lot. And if you don't love having your stepkids around — well first of all, that's normal, and secondly that means transition days are that much harder for you. (And don't get me started on the complications of transition days when you're co-parenting with a high-conflict ex so your stepkid's visitation time happens to coincide with some fresh new drama. Every. Single. Time.).

There is some light at the end of the tunnel though: knowing all of this, you can put together a proactive plan that helps make transition days somewhat less stressful — for you, your partner, AND your stepkids.

Maybe start a fun tradition, like always grabbing ice cream on the way home. But also, keep in mind that it’s normal for everyone to have mixed feelings on transition days, so you might want to keep things low-key instead of rolling out the red-carpet treatment, which might feel like too much pressure.

On transition days, your stepkid needs adjusting time, decompressing time, and 1-on-1 time with their parent. It’s okay to lay low and give everyone some space instead of diving straight into Super Stepparent mode.

For more practical stepparenting tips and suggestions, you might wanna start with our free STEPPARENTING SURVIVAL GUIDE. It’s basically a very condensed version of what I wish I would’ve known back at the beginning of this roller coaster. xo

Need a bigger pep talk? Start here or join us over on Substack! xo

🧡 Need a bigger pep talk? Start here or join us over on Substack! xo

Even if you love having your step-kids in the house, the switcheroo from kid-free to kid-full can feel like a lot. And if you don't love having your step-kids around, well, first of all, that's normal. And secondly, that means transition days are that much harder for you. And don't get me started on the complications of transition days when you're co-parenting with a high conflict X. So your step-kids' visitation time just happens to coincide with some fresh new drama every single time. There is some light at the end of the tunnel, though. Knowing all of this, you can put together a proactive plan that helps make transition days somewhat less stressful for you, your partner, and your step-kids. Maybe start a fun tradition, like always grabbing ice cream on the way home, but also keep in mind that it is normal for everyone to have mixed feelings on transition days. So you might want to keep things low-key instead of rolling out the red carpet treatment, which could feel like too much pressure. On transition days, your step-kid needs adjusting time, decompressing time, and one-on-one time with their parent. So it's okay to lay low and give everyone some space instead of diving straight into super-step-parent mode. For more practical step-parenting tips and suggestions, you might want to start with our free step-parenting survival guide. It's basically a very condensed version of what I wish I would have known back at the beginning of this roller coaster. I'll link it right in the show notes for you.