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New Year’s resolutions for blended families

The chaos of the holiday season is now behind us all. After focusing a significant amount of time on celebrating the season with loved ones, it is now time to look ahead to what the new year has in store. If you are part of a blended family, you may be concerned that certain negative patterns which influenced last year will continue to influence this year unless something changes. Thankfully, no matter how your child custody arrangements are structured, you have the power to help institute positive change within your own household.

You may not be able to control your co-parent’s household or approach to parenting and communication. However, you need not have such power to make significantly powerful changes within your own household and in regards to your own approach to parenting and communication.

If you have not made regular family bonding time a priority, consider resolving to do so this coming year. Although your kids and teens may not show it, they need you to make efforts which show that you are interested in them and in spending time with them. In addition, once kids understand that bonding time is a regular activity that they can count on, they may ultimately use this time to communicate with you regarding issues that they might have otherwise kept to themselves.

In addition, if you are in the habit of bad-mouthing your co-parent, please consider resolving to kick this habit during the next several months. In general, it does children far more harm than good to hear one of their parents bad-mouthing the other.

Source: The Huffington Post, “9 Resolutions Your Blended Family Should Make This Year,” Brittany Wong, Jan. 1, 2015

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