You’re childless (or childfree) and have found yourself dating or married to someone with children. Suddenly you’re thrust into the big bad role of stepmother. Every day brings new challenges. Schedule struggles, co-parenting nuances, children (what do I do with these, again?), parental alienation syndrome (PAS), or just waiting for the other shoe to drop. If you feel like your family role is unlike anyone you know, you’ve come to the right place! Being a stepmom can be a land mine field. Whether you are in a good place or are thinking “I hate being a stepmom,” know you’re never alone. We are all in this together.
Definition of childless: for the purpose of this site and the forum, we define childless as a woman not having had any biological or adopted children of her own regardless of any current custody or residency of said biological or adopted child.
There are many, many forums out there for stepmothers in general, but very few resources for women who find themselves in a stepmom role without any children of her own. This tends to make it difficult for these women to get really good feedback or have a safe place to vent when other StepMoms are often looking at the issues through the lens of their own mom viewpoint.
Childless StepMoms also tend to be immediately dismissed as not having any experience with children. Never mind big chunks of child raising are learn as you go and basic common sense. Never mind you might be a teacher, a nanny, an aunt, were an avid teen babysitter, or even have a masters degree in some child related field. If you didn’t give birth, you don’t have a clue. We know that’s not true. You are a piece of a parenting team.
If you’re tired of hearing “if you were a mother, you’d understand,” looking for support, or just want some perspective, you’ve come to the right place. Join our forum when you’re ready: ChildlessStepmoms Forum