Step Parenting with Purpose: Everything you wanted to know but were too afraid to ask

By Karalee Katsambanis

You don't have to navigate step parenting on your own. 'Step Parenting with Purpose' is the ultimate 'go to' companion and might well be the book that saves your sanity, relationships and family. It's the book Karalee wished she had 15 years ago when she started her step parenting journey.

'Step Parenting with Purpose' tackles many of the questions you have but are too afraid to ask; helps you navigate your own, sometimes conflicting, emotions; gives you insights into some of the more challenging step parenting events; and tips on how to engage and manage the ex.

"A roadmap every blended family should have… filled with sensible advice and incredible wisdom to help us find the highest ground on an often rocky trail." – Susan Kurz Snyder, Founder & Principal at Greene-Levin-Snyder Legal Search Group, New York.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Mar 5, 2020
• ISBN: 9781925952810

Book preview

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– Chapter One –

THE SPLIT, THE SAVAGENESS

AND THE SILLINESS!

The most uncommon thing is common sense.

And especially during a separation and divorce.

If you are in the process of separating or divorcing, flabbergasted at the cost of legal fees as well as financial settlement costs, then you probably have a friend who has been through it all and is trying to humour you by saying you might as well find someone you hate and just give them a house — it’s cheaper!

That may make you smile, but going through a split is definitely not fun.

The end of a union is sad for everyone —the hard reality that a love story has ended.

When emotions are running high, common sense just goes out the window. Deep-seated anger that it hasn’t worked is essentially what drives behaviour. The realisation that years have been wasted, and for what?

Sadly, revenge is sought in many different ways: financial, emotional, and very often using the kids for emotional blackmail, like when the father may see the children he not only fathered but has also seen every day until now.

None of this is helped by talk around the water cooler at work. We have all heard of someone who knows someone who used this lawyer or that lawyer, or is this what happened, and so on. Each situation is different and urban gossip simply clouds it all.

The jails are 95 per cent full of innocent criminals, right? Of course not, and when it comes to separation and divorce is it 95 per cent the other person’s fault? Of course not. There are always two sides to a story, and the truth lies somewhere inbetween.

No matter what anyone says, you cannot undo what has been decided by either both parties, or the one who has initiated the split. It all has to play out through various phases with, hopefully, a workable resolution for all. But life is not ideal at the best of times, and the road to hell is inevitably paved with good