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Typical co-parents' relatives and friends are often unaware of stepfamily realities. So they often mistakenly expect a new stepfamily household, roles, and relationships to feel and act pretty much like (their image of) a traditional intact biofamily. They also may secretly or openly disapprove of prior divorces, cohabiting, the new partner, and/or the re/marriage. So when co-parents experience stepfamily problems and disillusion-ments, friends and relatives may be startlingly unempathic and critical, and/or offer inappropriate (i.e. biofamily) advice. Also see realities 56-57. |
Stepfamily Reality