I recently remarried after a divorce. My wife has three children from her past marriage and I have two from a previous marriage. My Step Kids are 11, 7 and 3. Having been through the childhood thing already with my own children it took some adjusting to, but I have been giving it my all. The situation until now hasn't been ideal and my Step Son has been abusive and outright rude to both me and my wife. He refuses to take part in anything with the rest of the family. I find myself feeling trapped at home with an 11 year old Step Son who seems to dislike me a great deal. How can I get to know my Step Son and make him like me, so that we can work on a father/son relationship? I need a solution before this takes a toll on my relationship with my wife and other Step Kids.

Hello,
Looks like you have a new family to care for! New family, new challenges!

As you've said, "having been through the childhood thing already", I understand this was already an important challenge to take. It is not easy to raise a child, let alone 2, or 3. Nevertheless, some parents will say that children after the first time are usually the easiest. However, we can certainly consider that people's experiences can vary from one family to the other.  [more...]