Step Parents and Rights to Discipline during the First Year of Marriage

Step Parents and the problems dealing with the Children

It is not easy for the step parents to cope with the situation that arises after marriage . Being the step parent of a child is itself a most challenging task . Initially the children do not approve the presence of the step parent in the house . They just try to ignore him /her . Children want to spend time with their parent in the absence of the step parent It is obvious that the real parent care for his /her children 's needs first . They do

not express their feelings for their new spouses in front of the children lest it will have a negative impact on their psyche

Sometimes , it is noticed that the biological parent is jealous of spouse 's time with the children . He /she would be suspicious of the motive of the step parent towards the children . The biological parent will start distrusting the spouse and won 't let him /her spend enough time with the children . Such situation will arise for sometime and they should be handled properly . In such circumstances , the responsibility of the step parent becomes more . He /she has to deal with the matter sensibly so that the children don 't get affected

Even after divorce , the other biological parent keeps contact with his /her children and provides child support . Stepparents should not interfere with their visits and child support responsibilities (Booth and Judith , 56 . It is obvious for the children to feel divided between the biological parent and the step parent . Sometimes , the step parent may feel the rejection from the children

There may be conflicts between the biological parent and the step parent over the issues related to children . They need to talk to each other and discuss their differences thoroughly . Once the differences are cleared they can work together to build a strong relationship and discipline the children

Disciplining the Children during the first year of Marriage

The first year of marriage is the most crucial stage of the relationship for the step parents . Often it becomes so painful that it leads to divorce . It has been noticed that more people opt for divorce in the first year of marriage than any other year . A successful marriage depends on the emotional needs of each other . Affection and regular conversation play important role in bringing the partners together (Hetherington , 28

However , it is not easy to fulfill the needs of the children Disciplining them is a Herculean task and the step parents may find themselves caught in the middle too often . It is the responsibility of the step parents to discipline children in the first year of marriage for the long-term peace of the family

Children in stepfamilies develop more problems than children in intact families . They experience academic problems and emotional diss and hardly find consider themselves socially competent . Step parents always assume a non-disciplinarian role in the upbringing of children . This is because children always reject step parent 's attempts to...