Our blended family vacation
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- July
- 13
There’s always a unique kind of dynamic with these situations — in our case two parents, each with their own child. That’s our blended family.
Last week we all hauled ourselves upstate and settled into a lakeside cabin, and I came away with some observations.
The interesting dynamic is how a blended family operates in these situations. We did all of the family activities you would expect: Canoeing, swimming, toasting marshmallows, taking a hike to a waterfall, etc.
But, in the end, there’s always a bit of a division that happens at the end of the day. That’s not to say it’s in a bad way, necessarily. But, ultimately, I gravitate toward my son and my girlfriend towards hers. The inescapable fact is that I am ultimately responsible for my son and she for hers, much as we do generally function as a family.
Is that bad? As I said, not necessarily.
But it’s certainly a different component that you don’t find in your traditional family. The hope is that, with time, those divisions are minimized. But I suspect they’ll always be there in some capacity.
My question is does this happen in traditonal families also?
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on Monday, July 13th, 2009 at 12:31 pm by Jorge Fitz-Gibbon.
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Category: Activities, Blended families, Childcare, Dating, Discipline, Divorce, Emotions, Family, Fatherhood, Growing, Holidays, Motherhood, Parenting, Relaxation, Sibling rivalry, Single parents, Summer, Vacation, Values
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Of course it does. First off it’s only a blended family if you really dwell on it. I speak from first hand knowledge.
My family was a yours mine and ours family. I was the ours that linked the 2 families. However, we were raised we were all brothers and sisters and there was no half or step or whatever. Now that we are older natural divisions have occurred but its more on the lines of the family dynamic and not the fact of the yours mine and ours.
Next tim have the 2 boys go off and have fun and be brothers or friends or whatever, which will allow you 2 to have some fun.
Just my 3 cents
I speak from experience when I say that you will find over time that your family will eventually blend on their own. I have five kids. Two daughters are from my first marriage and my husband has a daughter and two sons from his first marriage. We have been together for four years, married for three. At first my two girls wanted nothing to do with my stepkids and now they are fast friends. You would never know they were not biologically related. They pair up in different combinations all the time. This is the first time I’ve seen your blog so I don’t know all your history. How old are your kids and how long have you and your girlfriend been together? Just curious.
Carol
I think this sometimes happens to a lesser degree in traditional families, usually based upon how the individual members get along. Sometimes, kids of the same age gravitate toward each other, and sometimes the father gravitates toward certain kids and the mother others. Within a group of individuals, there will be a number of unique relationships.
Thanks for a sweet article, very informative.. we will sure be back for more.
Very nice your article…I read this everyday