92: Top 10 Parenting Episodes from The Remarried Life

Brian Mayer takes a look back at parenting.  The show has done many episodes on parenting and by far issues and questions about parenting in a blended family are the most often confusing and perplexing issues.  We will talk about my favorite 10 episodes that we explored parenting.  If you have not listened to these, I would encourage you to do that and if you already have listened, then listen again to those that you might still be struggling with.    We hope you enjoy today’s message.  For more information and additional resources please visit our website at http://www.theremarriedlife.com Today's Goodies In the The Remarried Life Facebook Group, I recently asked the question, “What do you struggle with the most in your blended family journey.  And almost 100% of the answers centered around parenting.  Whether it be different styles, difficulty in uniting with your partner, or different expectations, it is a topic that continues to baffle many people including me at times.  Over the life of this podcast, parenting is something we have taken a look at on many occasions and today I wanted to highlight those episodes that I think could be very helpful with whatever issue you might be dealing with when it comes to this exasperating topic.  Session 12: Four Parenting Styles – Which One Are You?  - In this episode we talk about the Authoritative, Authoritarian, Neglectful, and Permissive parenting styles.  They all revolve around answers to questions centered around closeness and rules.  The best place to be is to say Yes to both closeness and rules or to Authoritative.  Session 17: Contracts to Motivate Stepchild Behavior - Sometimes motivation can come in the form of a written document in which parents and teens can both feel empowered to change what is going on.  Session 38: Parenting Through the Guilt of Divorce?  - This is a very common issue in which many parents feel that they have already put their children through enough and so they will often take their foot off the gas when it comes to boundaries and discipline.  Session 52: New Stepdad Tips  - Becoming a new stepdad is hard.  It is hard to know how to step in discipline and to manage impatience and anger through the process.  Session 66: New Traditions for Kids in a Blended Family – We often think about traditions in nuclear biological families and that maybe in stepfamilies that we are somehow not allow to develop traditions of our own to give the family something they can be proud of when thinking about this new family. Listen to the out of the box ideas in this podcast episode.  Session 69: Anger and Making Decisions About the Kids – This emotion is a lot like the guilt we talked about in episode 38.  Making decisions when you are angry rarely ever goes well.  We talk about how this anger affects children and how to deal with your own anger in a productive and constructive manner by remaining calm, getting support and thinking about what would your kids says when they are adults.  Session 71: Purposeful Relationships with the Whole Family – This is another sort of outside the box episode where we talk creatively about how to engage the different personalities in the family.  For example, starting a game night but rotating who leads.  We talked about the appreciation wave at the dinner table, where each person stands and says something they appreciate about the person to their right.  Session 80: New Stepmom Tips – Being a stepmom is so tough.  Juggling all the responsibilities can sometimes be too much.  We will talk about practical ways to lighten the mental and emotional load.  Session 89: Who Comes First Your Spouse or Your Kids? – This is a tough subject because I will get lots of disagreements on this one, because often people will say that the kids are most important because they are mine biologically, or look at all they have been through, or you can fend for yourself because you are an adult. So not the right approach and we will talk about that on this episode.  Session 90: Signs Your Are an Insecure Parent – This is something lots of struggle with and sometimes it has to do with our past.  Often if there was a perfectionist mentality for your growing up, then if things aren’t perfect you will look at them as failures.  This can cause a great deal of anxiety so we will look at ways to cope better and make changes.  Hope you enjoyed this look back at all of the great information being a better stepparent.    Resources: Session 12: Four Parenting Styles – Which One Are You? Session 17: Contracts to Motivate Stepchild Behavior Session 38: Parenting Through the Guilt of Divorce? Session 52: New Stepdad Tips Session 66: New Traditions for Kids in a Blended Family Session 69: Anger and Making Decisions About the Kids Session 71: Purposeful Relationships with the Whole Family Session 80: New Stepmom Tips Session 89: Who Comes First Your Spouse or Your Kids? Session 90: Signs Your Are an Insecure Parent   Thanks For Listening! With so many things that take time in our lives, I more grateful than you know that you took time to listen to this podcast episode.  If you liked this episode and believe that it would be beneficial to a friend, family member, or colleague, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. The Remarried Life Facebook Group is a community of people just like you who get and give support.  Please join today!  ​ As always remember that marriage is not something you have, it is something you do.  Talk to you next week unless you are binge listening in the future in which case I will talk to you in about a minute!  Take care.