Banning the ‘blended’ family: why step-families will never be the same as first families
“Natural family.” “Failed marriage.” “Broken family.” “New wife.” “Stepmonster.”
Living, researching and writing about step-family life for over a decade, I’ve witnessed the power of words to shape attitudes and feelings. “Wicked stepmother” can bring the most loving, self-confident woman with step-kids to her knees. The dated and Dickensian “broken family,” still popular in the British press, perpetuates the inaccurate, damaging view that children and adults can never recover from divorce. “Co-wives,” a trendy term for ex-wives and “new wives” who put aside their differences to “co-parent the kids,” suggests something much creepier - that step-family life is akin to polygamy and that the ladies should be not only united caretakers but also BFFs. Ewww!