The other day my 2 year old, my husband and my step daughter decided to stop in at our local Half Price Book store. I love Half Price Books as you can get books for a fraction of the cost of new, they have a huge selection and if you can take the time to check out their huge clearance section you can pick up books for $1-$2.
Well, when we were checking out the clearance section, my 2 year old wandered up the aisle next to it, grabbed a stool and pulled out a book off the shelf at random. He sat down, opened the book and proceeded to carefully turn the pages, pausing on each one as if he were reading it! It was cute, so I whipped out my cell phone and snapped this picture. When I looked at the cover I busted out laughing. The title of the book he was looking at was called, “How To Make Step Families Work” or something like that. I showed it to my husband and step daughter and they too, got a good laugh out of it.
My son is too young to understand about step families and all the complications that can come along. He just knows he has an extended group of people who love him and he loves them. He doesn’t bother to concern himself with any past issues or pre-conceived notions on how everything is supposed to go. He just goes with the flow.
We are luckier than most I believe as we all get along so well. We both get along well with both of our ex-spouses. They in turn get along well with our son. Even the parents of our ex-spouses still get along with us and both of us our welcome at each of their houses. Ex-grandparents buying gifts and doting on our son is almost unheard of! If you are having a hard time keeping up – in a nutshell, everyone gets along. Even at my son’s 1st birthday just about everyone from both sides, both past and present were there, gave him gifts and had a good time. I feel so lucky that both my ex-husband and my husband’s ex-wife are such good people. They both adore and are so good to our son.
It’s such a great feeling and such a relief that everyone gets along. It sure makes life easier. There never is any tension or anger. I believe most of the credit goes to the ex-spouses. They are the ones who make this work. Due to them being mature and good people, they understand the need for everyone to get along and have opened their hearts to our son and to us. To them I say a big thank you! My husband’s children are also great kids, though they are basically grown and aren’t really kids anymore. They have shown great love to both me and their little brother. They are polite and mature. They were obviously raised right by their parents and I hope I can do as well with my son.
So, though we unlike the “norm”, I think that is how it is supposed to be. Instead of jealously, resentment and hostility, we have cooperation, friendship and love. God has truly blessed us with a great extended family. Families Iike ours are the ones that should be shown to the world as examples, not the ones you see on talk shows and reality TV. Those shows promote hatred and evil and then we wonder why so many families follow suit. Maybe if we promote families that make it work, then maybe others would follow that example.
Just a thought.
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