“Parenting is the greatest pay it forward system on earth. We don’t owe our parents anything. We owe our children everything. The same was true for our parents. The same will be true for our children.” ― Dan Pearce, Single Dad Laughing
Stepdadding.com was launched on the understanding that Stepdads need all the help we can get and the belief that we shouldn’t have to pay for it. This month the site nominated at one of the top Stepdad Blog sites on the internet! I was honored by this kind gesture.
When I became a Stepdad and husband I didn’t have the tools I needed to succeed. Most new Stepdads don’t. Every year as many as 76% of so-called ‘blended families’ fail. That’s at least a 50% higher divorce rate than biological families. After six years as a Stepdad I was about to fail too. Luckily I’m stubborn. I didn’t give up. I learned things every guy should know before becoming a Stepdad.
What saved our marriage and family?
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Three years of research
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Changing the way we talk
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A commitment to constant improvement!
Golf & Marriage
Golf and marriage: You only get better with practice.
Once I discovered the underlying issues nearly all remarried parents deal with, it became much easier to minimize the struggles. My wife and I stopped arguing over petty things that were just symptoms and started to focus on the true problems. It was a game-changer! The results we get are miraculous when we know what’s really broken.
The Birth of Stepdadding.com
I wanted to share what I’d learned, so I leveraged some credit cards and bought a little website called Stepdadding.com. Another Stepdad started it a few years earlier. His relationship and family failed and the site was up for grabs. I wanted to see more families succeed and I wanted to inspire Stepdads to be proud of the great job they do. My labor of love has grown beyond my best hopes since the day I asked my brilliant friend David Blankenship to help me re-build and re-launch the site. That little lunch meeting developed into the most-visited Stepdad resource site online.
The response has been spectacular. Our traffic increases every month and we’ve been visited by Stepdads and families on every inhabited continent. The emails I get inspire me to continue to work hard for all the Stepdads out there. Today Stepdadding is more than just what I DO, it’s who I am! My early research led to a research paper, which became the book The Stepdad’s Guide – Resolving Family Conflict. After that it really took off . I was approached to write a monthly column for a parenting magazine, I’ve been featured in other author’s works and interviewed for radio programs and podcasts. I’ve been a featured speaker and I’ve been honored by the praise and respect of other professionals who care about good parenting and strengthening the family.
The Nomination
The latest recognition comes from VoiceBoks.com, when they tapped Stepdadding.com as one of the top 50 step-parenting blogs. My personal goal is to make Stepdadding.com a fully-funded, fully staffed site providing daily information and inspiration to Stepdads and families. It’s a great compliment to be recognized for the positive results and effort that’s gone into the site. It’s not possible to measure the full effect the site has had, but this kind of recognition reminds me it’s making a difference. It also brings me closer to my goal.
Thank you for visiting and reading Stepdadding.com. Please continue to share this free resource with your friends, family and co-workers. The site’s mission is my personal commitment to you:
“Stepdadding.com will deliver valuable and useful tools to help Stepdads and families succeed. We will deliver a positive message, information & inspiration –and never charge our readers for access.”
Keep Smiling –and Stepdad on!
Stacey James Wheeler, Founder