Blended - Navigating The Blended Family Experience

Creating a blended family is a process that requires great intention. This attention to detail should exist well before dating, during a relationship that's gaining momentum, and even 10 years into a marriage relationship! Listen in as Margo recounts her experience as a single parent that wasn't going to settle for anything less than what was right for herself and her young daughter. 

A step parent has the incredible opportunity to make lasting change in lives of those that they impact directly! This is achieved by operating with focus and intention on a daily basis, but just as importantly, staying on course to bring about the long term outcomes that fuel our efforts. The issues of today pale in comparison to the rewards that lie ahead of a step parent that operates with both...

Battling the idea of being "the other" isn't a foreign experience to the step-parent. Feeling like an outsider looking in, and confusion concerning our roles, are just a couple of the obstacles we face that only affirm this very challenging narrative. However, as challenging as this mental foothold may be, it is possible to fulfill our role as a partner and parent with excellence despite any circu...

As a step-parent hopeful or someone dating a single parent, it's necessary that we do our homework and find out if we fit for them, and they for us. Much is at stake when we enter into this process so answering those big picture questions should be a must before moving forward. 

The impact that we have as parents is incredible! Whether that impact will be for their good, or to their detriment, depends on what we do with the opportunities that we're given every day. 

If you don't assert your value, then your value will be assigned.  Before engaging in another dating relationship, single parents should allow significant time to heal, learn from mistakes, be attentive to child(ren), and re-establish their value.  Tools that can be used to assert value: 1. Behavior: Actions identify values.  2. Communication: Clarity concerning what the expectation is and what wo...

Counting the cost is the process of honestly and unselfishly gauging whether someone is willing and able to pursue a relationship with the intent to create a healthy, functional blended family.  A single parent cannot perfectly determine whether someone is entirely prepared for that commitment and ready to do the work to make it work over time. However, there are some indicators that could provide...

Ending a relationship with your child's mother/father is one of the most difficult decisions that someone will ever make. Even if that relationship is full of abuse and dysfunction. This was the decision that Margo had to make for her sake, and the sake of her young daughter. When to know enough is enough. Figuring out how to follow through with your conviction; and then facing the reality of how...

It's essential that we identify, assume, and function within a specified role. We need a standard to operate from! It is our job to hold ourselves accountable and we should invite those within our family to hold us accountable to that expectation as well. Upon realizing where we are needed, we can then determine how to be most effective!

The health of the family unit is trending in the wrong direction, and blended families are even worse off.  Marriage (the pinnacle of human relationship)  - 50% of marriages end in divorce  - 75% of divorcees remarry (60% of those marriages end in divorce - the percentage increases with more marriages)  Marriage has been diluted and it is affecting all levels of relationship: - Friendships : under...

'What is family?'  Families need to answer this question to establish a strong foundation and direction for each individual and the family as a whole.  Society is a reflection of the condition of its families:  - Family impacts those within the family  - Those within the family impact people in their circles  - People in the circles impact their own families and circles make up the community  - Th...

Intro to Jeremiah Born in Chicago / Raised in San Diego / 31yrs old  Interests: Jesus / Seeing people become their best  Why Blended Exists:  - Personal experience within my blended family and the lack of existent information/support available  - Both the good and the bad stories that come about as a result of the blended family dynamic  Goal Of The Podcast:  - To see blended families thriving  -...