Ah, summer and part-time custody. If you’ve got a blended family like ours, chances are summers toss a few curveballs over home plate. Or at the very least, over home itself. I guess that’s generically true for any family — … Continue reading 3+ME: A stepmom’s summertime, and the livin’ is … easy?
Give a child a sledgehammer. Then get out of the way. Because apparently when you have a deck that needs demolishing, kids get really excited about helping. Particularly boys. I know this because we in fact had a deck that … Continue reading 3+ME: Smashing things and building friendships
“Can you reach that for me?” “How do you cook a spaghetti squash?” “Why is the Xbox going so slow?” “Did we use Drano in the sink?” “What’s the Internet password? Again?” There is only one person in our house … Continue reading 3+ME: This dad can solve any problem. As long as it’s before 2:08 a.m.
You can’t control a lot of things. Like sleep. You can’t really control how fast or slow you fall asleep. No matter how tired you are, sometimes you just can’t catch any shuteye. And sometimes no matter how awake you … Continue reading 3+ME: Staying awake for the world of preteens
Roses are red. Thorns make us feel blue. Sometimes life isn’t awesome — Tell your stepkids the truth. “What was the worst part of your day?” my stepdaughter’s little voice asked over the dinner table. The worst part of my … Continue reading 3+ME: Be honest about the thorns, too
#bonusmomnotstepmom A friend hashtagged a social media post with this a few weeks ago, and I paused when I saw it. I understood why she’d written it. Her blended family situation is very different from mine: She’s the full-time maternal … Continue reading 3+ME: ‘Stepkid’ vs. ‘my kid’: How important are the names we use?
You never know what you’ve got til it’s gone, they say. But I’m an editor, and I’d like to reconstruct that sentiment a bit: You never know what you’re missing til you’ve found it. Really, you don’t. You can spend … Continue reading 3+ME: Two years of the four of us
