Welcome!

Hi-
Those of us struggling through step- or blended families often feel very alone. We (both step-moms and step-dads) need a forum where we can vent about the frustrations of our lives, and receive support from others in their situation and NOT BE JUDGED. No trolls allowed. Please treat this as a place where you can share anything, confide anything, and in return receive a variety of perspectives and words of wisdom in return. So, the title "Blended Family Secrets" is not meant to convey that I'll be providing secrets for success, but rather a place where you can share your deepest darkest secrets about your stepfamily issues or problems without fear of retribution.

I hope this board is helpful to all of you who are in the same boat as me. Struggling to understand/work with step- or blended families.

How to handle not liking your stepchildren....

I'm in a situation where I have one biological child from a first marriage, and now a step child from my second marriage. Despite the fact that both children are basically sweet, good kids, we fundamentally don't even like each other's kids. We get easily frustrated around them, become snappy, and are more likely to swiftly criticize the other's kid than our own. How do we get past this? I know developing love takes time, but developing "Like"? Is it possible to develop "like" when for the past several years we've spent at best tolerating the other person's child. Sometimes that has generated into active dislike and barbs towards the other person. Advice? Help? How do you handle this?