Blended Family Podcast

Latest Episodes:

36-Teens and Social Media Jul 20, 2015

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melissa@blendedfamilypodcast.com

www.blendedfamilypodcast.com

These days our children are exposed to more than they should be, and most exposure is due to social media. Teenagers spend the majority of their time with their faces buried in their phones. This is truly frustrating for parents. The choice whether to get your child that smartphone or not is yours as their parent, but you should be aware of what it entails before you make that decision. Most importantly, certain rules should be set before even giving your child that phone. We aren’t going to be able to stop social media, but at least we can gain knowledge about it in order to keep our children safe.

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www.makelovenotporn.com

35-Your Role as a Step Parent Jul 13, 2015

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melissa@blendedfamilypodcast.com

www.blendedfamilypodcast.com

Being a stepparent can be hard, and sometimes confusing as well. It’s hard to know how much you can say or do, or how much you can involve yourself in the life of the child. In this episode, I go over some do’s and dont’s to help you in your role as a stepparent.

For the donts

Dont badmouth
Dont be a disciplinarian
Dont be a replacement parent
Don’t take things personal
Don’t expect everything to be perfect.

And the Do’s

Do communicate with your spouse
Do start slow
Do give our spouse alone time with their children
Do get involved in your step kids lives
Do create new traditions

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34-Health and wellness in your blended family Jul 06, 2015

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melissa@blendedfamilypodcast.com

www.blendedfamilypodcast.com

Keeping your blended family healthy can be a challenge. As children shuffle from home to home, they can can also bring their illness from home to home. We can’t always control the other home environment where our children live when they aren’t with us. We can only teach them the importance of healthy eating and exercise. In this episode I share tips and challenges. I also get into the benefits of using essential oils to improve your family’s health.

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For the essential oils

www.mydoterra.com/melissamarks

melissaessentials@gmail.com

33-Forgiveness in the blended family Jun 29, 2015

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melissa@blendedfamilypodcast.com

www.blendedfamilypodcast.com

Forgiveness is something that is necessary in all families. Blended families will not be as successful if we cannot learn how forgive others. It is also extremely important to teach our children how to do this. These nine steps were taken from www.learningtoforgive.com

Know exactly how you feel about what happened and be able to articulate what about the situation is not OK. Then, tell a trusted couple of people about your experience.
Make a commitment to yourself to do what you have to do to feel better. Forgiveness is for you and not for anyone else.
Forgiveness does not necessarily mean reconciliation with the person that hurt you, or condoning of their action. What you are after is to find peace. Forgiveness can be defined as the “peace and understanding that come from blaming that which has hurt you less, taking the life experience less personally, and changing your grievance story.”
Get the right perspective on what is happening. Recognize that your primary distress is coming from the hurt feelings, thoughts and physical upset you are suffering now, not what offended you or hurt you two minutes – or ten years – ago. Forgiveness helps to heal those hurt feelings.
At the moment you feel upset practice a simple stress management technique to soothe your body’s flight or fight response.
Give up expecting things from other people, or your life, that they do not choose to give you. Recognize the “unenforceable rules” you have for your health or how you or other people must behave. Remind yourself that you can hope for health, love, peace and prosperity and work hard to get them.
Put your energy into looking for another way to get your positive goals met than through the experience that has hurt you. Instead of mentally replaying your hurt seek out new ways to get what you want.
Remember that a life well lived is your best revenge. Instead of focusing on your wounded feelings, and thereby giving the person who caused you pain power over you, learn to look for the love, beauty and kindness around you. Forgiveness is about personal power.
Amend your grievance story to remind you of the heroic choice to forgive.

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Other links

www.learningtoforgive.com

www.blendedfamilypodcast.com/article for the HuffPost article

32-Father's Day Special with Justin Worsham Jun 21, 2015

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melissa@blendedfamilypodcast.com

www.blendedfamilypodcast.com

Don’t miss this awesome Father’s Day Special, with special guest, Justin Worsham. Justin has a thriving career as a comedian, and is now cultivating a radio career. His podcast, called The Dad Podcast, is rising to the top of the charts! In this interview we discuss

Justin’s role as a stay at home, working parent
His relationship with his own dad
Incorporating humor into parenting
The Dad Podcast
Some parenting struggles
Some personal information about Justin

Here at the the Blended Family Podcast, we want to wish all of the dad’s out there a very special Father’s Day. Please share this episode with the special father’s in your life!

Here’s how you can connect with Justin Worsham!

Website

Podcast

Twitter

To connect with me!

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31-Summer with your Blended Family Jun 15, 2015

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melissa@blendedfamilypodcast.com

www.blendedfamilypodcast.com

Summer is here, school is out! What are you going to do with your blended family? It can be hard to coordinate schedules over the summer and also keep them busy. What can you do so you don’t hear the constant “I’m bored?” I’ll give you just a few tips in this short episode, as I’m getting ready to take a small trip before the chaos of summer arrives!

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30-Feeling Unappreciated in the Blended Family Jun 08, 2015

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melissa@blendedfamilypodcast.com

www.blendedfamilypodcast.com

There are many roles we play in our blended families, and sometimes we can feel unappreciated for all that we do. There are five main categories or roles that we feel unappreciated in.

Stepparent
Parent
Partner
Child
New partner (unappreciated by partner’s ex)

Proper communication can help, by expressing to your family what your needs are. Most of us have these feelings at one point or another.

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29-Raise the Child You Were Given Jun 01, 2015

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melissa@blendedfamilypodcast.com

www.blendedfamilypodcast.com

It is very common as parents to compare our own children to other children. This comparison hinders us from truly seeing the positive qualities in a child. We need to accept, love, and embrace our kids for who they are, positive and negative. Blended families can struggle with this, as suddenly there are other kids in the home, and often we cannot help but to compare our biological children to our stepchildren. It is our human nature to do this, but it’s important to try not to for the sake of your child, and for your own sanity. You can make a conscious effort to stop comparing, love your children for who they are, and focus on their positive qualities.

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28-Escaping Perfectionism May 25, 2015

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melissa@blendedfamilypodcast.com

www.blendedfamilypodcast.com

Perfectionism is something that many people struggle with. When it comes to a blended family, we can feel pressure to have the “perfect” family. This, of course, is an unrealistic expectation.

In this episode, we discuss the questions to ask yourself to determine if you are a perfectionist, examples of what perfectionism looks like in a blended family, and what steps you can take to overcome perfectionism, which involve

recognition and forgiveness
self dialogue
surrender
sense of humor

Perfectionism is definitely something that can improve over time, thereby improving your quality of life, and the quality of all of your relationships.

anxietybc.com

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27-Before you call it quits May 18, 2015

Show notes

melissa@blendedfamilypodcast.com

www.blendedfamilypodcast.com

In almost all relationships, at some point or another, couples are faced with a decision to end a relationship or stick it out. The stresses of a blended family can really put an extra strain on a relationship. Before you decide to end a relationship, and affect not only your lives, but the lives of your children, there are some important 5 key factors to look at.