STEPMOM

Badmouthing = critical, spiteful remarks about you to your stepchildren or your spouse.
If you are on the receiving end of this practice by your husband’s ex, or by your ex, you know the feeling all too well.  Anger, frustration, helplessness – you are not there to defend yourself against comments that aren’t true.  And if [...]

You’re the kids’ mother.  She’s their stepmom.  How do you relate to your ex-husband’s wife?  The relationship between the mom and stepmom is often filled with land mines, and it may seem that your life would be just fine, if she wasn’t in it.  It’s hard to see your ex-husband’s wife impartially, in any case.  [...]

Do you find that your anger is triggered by every little thing that your ex-spouse does?
Does it seem that anger has taken over your life in a subtle way, coloring your relationships?  Anger is part of the brain’s wiring, the fight/flight pattern to warn aggressors to stop threatening behavior.  It has an adaptive and positive [...]

Dealing with your husband’s ex-wife – otherwise known as your stepchildren’s mother- can be one of the most trying aspects of stepfamily life.   If she is bitter or tries to undermine you as the stepmom, it can make your life particularly hard.
Katherine Maguid, writing in Stepmom Magazine, describes how her husband’s ex-wife told her children [...]