Stepfamilies with Teens

Parenting a teen is hard work. There are many issues and problems that teenagers are going through. This is a challenging age and that can be made worse by the fact that many families today are divorced and torn. The good news is that many of these families find a way to rebuild, often with other parents added to the mix and then you have step-families. In fact, step-families are extremely common in today’ s society.

Depending on the situation and the ages of the children involved, the merge to a step-family can be a fairly smooth one. But when it comes to teenagers, parenting is hard and often the stepparent may find it even more difficult. Teenagers tend to be very defiant and may talk back or refuse to listen to the stepparent.

Step families

Step-families are a common occurrence these days and make up a large majority of American households. Many stepparents have been a part of the child’s life since a very young age. In fact, some children know the stepparent as their parent and that is the way they see them.

If the child is already a teenager when the stepparent is added to the family, it might be a little harder to bond and to form a parent and child relationship but it is still possible. The key to making a stepfamily work is communication. The parents need to talk to each other and agree on their parenting techniques.

You also need to talk to the teenager. It’s important that they form a close relationship with the stepparent and that they are able to trust and communicate with the stepparent if you expect the teen to listen to rules and orders from the stepparent. With proper communication and a lot of love, you can have a wonderful close relationship with your teenage stepchild.