Making the Best of Second Best : A Guide to Positive Stepparenting

Book by Fox, Kathleen

I have been doing on-the-job training as a stepmother for nine years. I haven't learned all the answers yet, but I certainly have a good idea what most of the questions are. I have two children (Loren is 22 and Rachel is 16), and my husband has three (Stephanie is 19, Amy is 15, and Peter is 13). In the beginning, my kids lived with us all the time. My husband's kids lived with us for half the year and with their mother for the other half. When Loren was 15, he went to live with his father after a conflict with his stepdad. Stephanie, at 14, decided that life was easier at her mother's house and that she wanted to live there full-time. Right now those two are out on their own, so we have Rachel with us all the time and Amy and Peter here for six months of each year.

I am self-employed as a computer consultant, providing hardware and software support. I also am a freelance writer and editor. I have edited over 30 books on recovery and self-help for Health Communications, Inc., ranging from minor copy-editing to complete rewriting. I wrote a column on stepfamilies for three years for The Dallas Morning News and published a parenting newsletter for one year. For several years I was the executive director of Onsite Training and Consulting, a company which offered programs for co-dependency and addictions. I teach classes on building stronger stepfamilies, and I am working on a young-adult novel and a second nonfiction book.