Blended families require new strategies

Dennis O'Brien

Suburban Journals

Managing a blended family poses new challenges to adults who have formed their expectations and acquired their parenting skills in a traditional family. Here are some suggestions about how to do it successfully.

Make nurturing your marital relationship a top priority, right from the start. Doing so is realistic and healthy, not selfish. Intimacy is certainly best for you and your spouse in the short run, and in the long run, a stable marriage will better serve your children than a well-intentioned campaign to develop instant rapport with the stepchildren.

Source: http://suburbanjournals.stltoday.com/articles/2009/11/18/west/opinion/1118wc_famatters0.txt