Written For GOOP
There is no one way to be a parent. The very nature of family is that it is as individual as DNA and as unique as a fingerprint. And despite the fact that blended families are increasingly common, we don’t talk much about stepparenting beyond narrow archetypes and cautionary fairy tales.
But there isn’t a rule book on how to blend a family seamlessly, says family therapist Ashley Graber, who sees a lot of parents and stepparents struggling with this delicate process in her Santa Monica practice. “Adults in these situations can be really hard on themselves,” Graber says. “We need to allow for a breakdown of perfectionism. We’re human, and we’re going to make mistakes, and that’s okay.”
