The Trials and Effects of Blended Families Essays

There is no right or wrong way to make a family. Families come in all different mixtures that make a unit and not a single one is perfect. Although blended families will never be considered “traditional” they are becoming more conventional in today’s society due to the high divorce rate in the United States. More than half of Americans will be part of a blended family during their lifetime since the family has become more complex and less traditional according to the ACS and Decennial Census

In today’s society, there are a variety of family structures in which children live. Normally, a traditional family consisted of a married couple and their biological children. No other persons were involved in the household except the children and their parents. Over the last several decades, we have seen a change in family structures. We see a new family structure called blended families growing every day. According to researchers, there are now more re-married couples than there are first married couples. They are the majority of marriages in America. Blended families include at least one step parent, step siblings or half siblings. These children do not share a common biological parent. Although there are many children who can say they

Divorce is common in the United States; remarriage is just as common. As a result many marriages result in a blended family. A family in which both of the parents have children from previous marriages. Often the blended family shares a permanent residence. Clair Cartwright and Kerry Gibson state in their 2013 report, The effects of co-parenting relationships with ex-spouses on couples in step-families, that in the United States in 2008, around 9% of households and around 12% of cohabiting households were blended families ( Teachman & Tedrow, 2008). A blended family is an excellent place to observe symbolic interaction theory.

In today’s world, families are dynamic and interdependent systems. The developmental processes of the children in the family are deeply affected by how the family system operates. However, a family’s structure does not determine whether it is a healthy family system or not. Today, families consist of single parents, stepparents, divorced parents, remarried parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles. They are all able to contribute to a healthy functioning family system by meeting each family member’s needs and encouraging positive communication (Jamiolkowski, 2008). Unhealthy family systems have negative and possibly

The family dynamics in Max Apple’s “Stepdaughters” and Amy Tan’s “A Pair of Tickets” displays some of the issues that parents, stepparents and teenagers may or may not experience. A mother’s relationship with her children has a very unique connection, especially when it comes our daughters. Being a mother or stepmother is a problematical and rewarding experience: nevertheless, a mother’s love is unconditional. How do you except someone for his or her choices on being different? Is it easier for a step-parent to see things more clearly that the biological parent? Every family has its issues. When it’s a blended family with mothers, fathers, stepchildren and other family member, those issues can become more complex to understand.

You presented a great discussion post. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on blended families and including your own personal experience. It was obvious from reading your post that you have a passion for blended families. The Daily Muse is a wonderful journal publication that offers advice about careers and career goals. An article from that publication, written by Ruth Zive (2016), does a great job of sharing advice about doing what you love and pursuing your passion with others. It is an article that might resonate with your new career and how you feel about blended families.

The economic factors are also a problem with divorced families which in turn has a direct effect on the ability of the children to succeed financially. The majority of divorces that occur result in the household income being reduced by as much as half. This can have a much greater effect on children growing up in a family that is financially secure before the divorce. The adjustment and change that must occur financially is often devastating to the children especially in their formative years. (Fagan & Rector, 2000)

The percentage of blended families in America is, “68% of re-marriages involve children from prior marriages” (The bonded family 2015). A majority of the families that you see are blended in some way or form. 48 percent of marriage will end in a divorce (The bonded family 2015), which says that many children are living in blended homes. The article talks about how parents struggle with keep tabs on everything that is happen at school for their children. Another issues that the article talked about was how if both parents were remarried that there was a lack of communication between the two parents about the child. “The parents likely couldn’t problem-solve then, when they were married, so I can’t really expect them to now” (H. Williams, 2014). This is an issue because the children are being effected by the bad communication between the

Did you know that one third of all children in the United States (US) are expected to live in a stepfamily before they reach the age of 18[helpguide.org 2008]? While some people consider blended families abnormal, they can be just as good as a “regular” family. With blended families becoming more common, there are more studies being done to show both the similarities and differences between “regular” and blended families.

Handling a blended family could be very challenging even for step parents who have a great relationship with your stepchildren. I think this week’s movie clip "The Scoop on Blended Families" offers realistic guidance from teens that have experience what it’s like to live in a blended family and how they have adjusted to their new step family. All family sometimes struggles to be happy, but blended families often face greater obstacles than others. For example, the quality of the relationship between stepparents and stepchildren cause a great impact on the level of happiness of a blended family. Loyalty to biological children and know how to discipline also add significant complications. This movie could be very helpful and educational to anyone

According to Lisa Zeleznikow and John Zeleznikow (2015), over 40% of adults in the United States have at least one step-relative living with them. This style of family unit is not a new phenomenon, as even in biblical times the accounts of Abraham and Jacob illustrate the realities of the

When families "blend" to create stepfamilies, things rarely progress smoothly. We understand that these keys to effective stepparenting are not always easy to follow, but over the years, we've seen the unimaginable happen in stepfamilies when take the right avenue. Some children may resist changes, while parents can become frustrated when the new family doesn't function like their previous family. While changes to family structure require adjustment time for everyone involved, these guidelines can help blended families work out their growing pains and live together successfully.

In the article “WE WANT A DIVORCE” written by SIRS Staff, readers ascertain that divorce rates have proliferated over the past 30 years due to lack of interest in their partner, different beliefs and habits, and financial problems. Declining interest is very problematic because some couples find their relationship was only actualized to escape reality. While losing interest in their partner is troublesome, the lack of commonality in values and customs make it excruciating to live together. Furthermore, the stress of money can diminish the bonds of love and it can terminate the marriage because the power of money becomes stronger than the power of love. Therefore, divorce can manifest when there is a lack of interest in their partner, different

Specific thesis: The blended families and multicultural families become increasingly familiar. Understanding the basics of these families, is, therefore, critical for the family embraces its strengths in working through their differences. According to the research carried out by Michele Martin on the experience of the remarried couples in the blended families, differing loyalties cause various challenges for both biological and step-parents. Just like blended families, the shadow side of multicultural families can loom heavily in the relationships leading to various challenges. Chang and Chin-Chun (page 24, 2014) agrees that it is caused, primarily, by differences in culture and the differences in the cultures makes the parents face difficulties in raising children.

Being a part of broken family first and then having a blended family upon her mother’s remarriage to her stepfather could have made her vulnerable to many problems. She might have struggled to develop her identity and self-image. Adding to this her whole family lives interstate which makes me think about distant relationship among them. This broken and later a blended family made them struggle to form a strong bonding. It is clear from some latest studies which focused on mutual relationships among the adults of the families who witnessed their parents’ divorce in their childhood. Ahrons (2007) explored the long-term effects for family bonds of the children whose parents got divorced. He interviewed adults after 20 years of their parents’ divorce and established that broken family continued to influence the family relations during the adulthood by exerting strong effect on quality of relations among family members. Moreover, one third of the children who experienced the remarriage of one of their parents stated it as more traumatic than the divorce (Ahrons, 2007). Furthermore, Sam was sexually