Archive for February 2012
Stepparent Seen by Adult Children as Parent’s New Partner But Not as a Stepparent.
#stepparent #blendedfamily #stepchild A reader from New York asked if I planned on commenting about the role of a stepparent when the stepchildren have left the home and are established as adults on their own. Great question! Great suggestion! There is not a whole lot of actual parenting to be done once children have moved…
Read MoreGreg Hohn: Satisfaction with Effort Eliminates Regret
Earlier this month, I posted on my facebook page something that had occurred to me as I was wading through some of my own regrets about things that I had done or failed to do during my lifetime. My post read, “We deepen regret by imagining what we missed or failed to do turned out…
Read MoreStepparent and Natural Parent Parenting Styles–Good Predictor for the Marriage Itself.
#stepparent #parentingstyle #blendingfmailies #secondmarriage I appreciate the responses to my postings about the role of a stepparent and step parenting. Several readers have shared their experiences, and I am including three of them here with comments as another installment of this series. When Parenting Styles Clash An Atlanta man wrote: Our blended family consisted of…
Read MoreDime Stores for Valentines and Other Gifts.
#valentine #fiveanddime #dimestore A dime store was a dime store in the 1940’s. No two ways about it. Scott’s called themselves a “five-and-ten-cent store.” Newberry’s went one better. See the sign in the picture to the right that has been copied from a postcard as it was in the mid-1940’s. Newberry’s proclaimed they were a…
Read MoreTruth on Stage and In Life Reguires Being Vulnerable
Greg Hohn continues with his series this Sunday. All of us have observed others who move through life with an ironic detachment (Greg’s phrase) from all that is happening to and around them. They present themselves as cool to everyone they encounter. Rather than cool, their behavior is an avoidance of vulnerability—showing their true selves…
Read MoreBlending Family – Natural Parent’s Role Critical to Stepparent Success
#stepparent #stepchildren #blendingfamily As I wrote in my previous posting on the role of a stepparent, my wife Melinda and I are coming up on our 26th anniversary. We spent last Saturday evening with my stepson, Matt, and his wife Kristina at the North Carolina Jazz Festival, and I was reminded of how fortunate I…
Read MorePerfection is an Ideal Always Beyond Achievement.
My guest again this Sunday is my son, Greg Hohn, and as in his last post, the reader will find a biographical note at the end of the article. Reading through his piece about the pursuit of perfection, I am reminded of the saying about golf, “It Ain’t a game of perfect.” A poorly stuck…
Read MoreStepparent. Not a Role to Be Undertaken Lightly.
#stepparent #stepchild #blendingfamilies Over the years, Matt and I grew closer and closer. When Melinda decided to pursue an MBA at night school, Matt and I prepared, shared, and cleaned up after the evening meal twice a week—no big productions. We had a great time. Today, I love him as I do my own sons. We…
Read More