Unconventional Wisdom: Parenting stepchildren: A touchy job

0 Comments | Philadelphia Inquirer, The, February, 2008 | by Alfred Lubrano Inquirer Columnist

Divorce demands more maturity than marriage. That's because, for the sake of your kids, you're compelled to cooperate with the one person on the planet who upsets you most. So you stifle nosy questions to your daughter about what men Mom is seeing. You swallow the giddy  gotcha!  that wells up when your son whines that he'd rather be with you than his dad.

You dutifully carve the calendar into custodial days, show up on time at the child-transfer site, and chew on your hand to keep from screaming. If there's something harder, short of being imprisoned, sick or poor, I'd be curious to know it. Some of the toughest problems of divorce present themselves in the blended family. Census figures show, by the way, that 10 percent of U.S. children live with a stepparent. A recent...