STEPMOM

I was a guest today on Susan Swanson’s radio show Susan Swanson on Step, and we discussed the importance of EMPATHY in the stepfamily.   Unfortunately, each of us gets caught up in our own experience, and has a tendency to make assumptions about the motivations of the others in the family situation.  If you missed the show, I hope you’ll listen to the recorded version, which is available from The Stepfamily Center’s web site.

Once we put aside our own defensiveness and assumptions (just for long enough to explore where another person is coming from), we can actually create an opening for that person to feel heard and understood.  We might well find out that our assumptions were off base, and lo and behold!  we find compassion.  On the show, I describe a time when my husband’s perception of my son shifted, and from that time on, their relationship took a different, more positive course.