Monday, May 17, 2010

Happy Stepmother - A Review

Thanks to FSB Associates I received a copy of The Happy Stepmother: 10 Steps to a Fulfilling New Life - Stay Sane, Empower Yourself, and Thrive in Your New Family (Harlequin; May 2010 $15.95 U.S./$18.95 CAN; 978-0-373-89225-9).  

Sure the word stepmother has a stigma attached to it but it doesn't have to. 

Dr. Rachelle Katz gives readers the tools to break through the stereotypes and strengthen the bonds with their new families. As a stepmother herself and psychotherapist with more than twenty-five years of experience treating the issues that blended families face, Dr. Katz is in a unique position to offer sound advice.  

Being a stepmother is one of the most challenging roles and one that typically receives little encouragement or understanding from others.  This book is a commonsense self-help guide for stepmothers struggling with this demanding role. The Happy Stepmother is a valuable resource for other family members and mental health professional alike.

A few book topics include: 
• Guidance for stepmothers who have not found their role to be easy
• Advice for women considering marrying men with children who need reassurance and guidance about becoming stepmothers.
• Collective voices and wisdom from stepmothers who responded to an online questionnaire and online chat room.
• Practical, comprehensive, supportive strategies for making the transition to becoming a stepmother as smooth as possible, and making the role of stepmother as emotionally healthy as possible.

What I Can Tell You: I believe this is the perfect, no-nonsense book for blended families. It is full of practical advice such as the guilt some stepparents may feel like "I don't love the children as hard as my husband does."  

It also covers, boundaries, strengthening your marriage or partnership and is based on interviews and questionnaires from 3,500 step moms.

2 comments:

  1. Being a step-parent is harder than you think, I know, I do it. The hardest challenge is with the ex, not the child. Maybe this is a valuable book to read. Have to check it out. Thanks Maria!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sorry but my stepmother does her best to live up to the "evil stepmother" role and sadly probably nothing will ever change that...I hope I never have to find out how hard playing the role of stepmother is!

    ReplyDelete

I love comments. Please feel free to leave a comment. I would love to talk to you further