I'm sorry Sonja Ridden, but I cannot read your book.I really like its title: Hell...p! I'm a Stepmother, but unfortunately the appeal ends there.
Sonja works as a counsellor and psychotherapist specialising in assisting stepfamilies, she holds a Master of Counselling and is a stepmother, so she's got all the credentials, except the ability to hold my attention.
I was hoping for a personal journey story that was more philosophical, but this is more of a How To book for the lay person and includes chapters with headings such as Happiness is a Choice and It's All my Fault – important issues I'm interested in but not when they're written in such a simplistic way.
Apart from the title I liked the clarity of the writing (just not the content) and the bibliography, which I look forward to reading my way through.
As the role of stepmother is fraught with so many insecurities and doubts, I took some pleasure in making the firm decision not to read this book. It's just one book in a pile of hundreds, but one that feels good to put near the front door to return to the library in the morning and exchange for something else unknown.
4 comments:
If you do find anything worth reading, please, blog about it. I've put off reading books on stepparenting for a long time because I worry it will only make me think too much about something I already think too much about!
I'm not sure there is a good book about it. I think step-parenting is a trial and error process LOL. Poor kids get to be the guinea pigs, but we live and learn. I'm a step-parent to three great kids... lucky for me they were/are pretty young when their father and I got together. It's a learning process, and a how-to manual isn't going to cut the mustard for me.
Maybe one of us needs to write a book??
Part of me thinks I need to, though it would be more of a memoir as I could never write a How To book.
I'm like you Denise, so thankful Z was young when I came on the scene.
And I'm also like you Ana, I am such a self-conscious parent, over-thinking every decision - maybe that's just the plight of a stepparent??
Over-thinking is the plight of every parent, step or no, in my opinion. But, there is something hard about making difficult parenting decisions for a child that doesn't "belong" to you in the traditional sense that gives the difficult moments of step-parenting an edge.
And, I vote yes on a memoir/chart of uncharted waters (not a how-to) of step-parenting. It is sorely, sorely needed.
xx
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