Claudette's Blog

This is an article that I wrote for my members of Info Step, a newsletter for stepfamilies. I decided to share with you "What Is A Mother?" in honor of Mother's Day.

If you would like to read more articles like this one, you can sign up for my monthly ezine called Info Steps at www.coachingsteps.com.

Many women struggle with the idea of one day becoming a mother, when to become a one, if she will, how many kids, etc.

As little girls, we often played with dolls imitating our mothers, taking care of our "babies", playing house, pretending to cook, clean, and more. Play is where children learn to be adults and the kind of adults they will become. They also learn what king of role in life they will play through role modeling from the adults around them.

So what is a mother? Is it only the person that gives birth to you or is it more than that? There is strong debate in the stepfamily communities (and in other relationship communities also) about what it means to be a mother. Let me share my perspective and experience on this.

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A while back, I asked my readers to share with me an example of an activity that draws their family closer together, as part of a way to celebrate National Stepfamily Day. As a Stepfamily Coach and a stepmom, I believe it’s imperative to find activities stepfamilies can do together in a new and fun way. Stepfamilies don’t have the long family history that nuclear families have.

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I'm finally taking the time to write about my stepdaughter's wedding. Can you believe it that it's already close to three weeks since it happened. Where did the time go?

I'm glad that I wrote my thoughts and feelings in my daily journal. It's amazing how fast things get blurry. After picking my son and granddaughter at the airport, getting all the stuff ready for the guests and meeting up with Julie's in-laws, we were now ready for the big day.

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Last Sunday, I was in Washington DC to see my oldest stepdaughter run a 10K run (I was told not to call it a marathon because real runners would let me know). It was a great day, the sun was shining and the cherry blossoms were beautiful. There were people everywhere.

This is our second time coming to this event to encourage Julie in her endeavor of running. We are so very impressed with her because, you see, Julie never did any physical activities at home. She was more of a book worm. She much rather prefered staying in her room and read than go outside and play.

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I had received a call for Good Morning America earlier this week asking if I knew of stepfamilies that would be willing to be interviewed. So I asked around, but not many volunteered. So I was curious to find out what GMA had to say about stepfamilies.

I went to When Stepparents Get Too Involved and listened to what was said. Here are my thoughts on this....

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Sometimes I get up in the morning wondering who I am. Why am I here? What's my purpose? And I think back to when I met my husband and his two daughters. I am thinking how wonderful life will be with these two beautiful girls, sisters to my son and we just grow and become one big happy family.

I've always wanted to be a mom, The mom that has fun with her kids, makes them cookies and clothes, and is there with them at their school rehearsal and games. I just wanted to be a part of their lives when they graduate and get married and have kids of their own.

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Today, I want to share an article from Stepfamily Foundation and that was written by Jeannette Lofas and Trisha O'Shea. Both have been in steprelationships and are very involved in making a difference in stepfamily living...

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