Would You Like To Get On With The Teenage Boy In Your Stepfamily?
By Joanne Ball

I?™ve read a great book, Raising Boys. We have a teenage boy and being an idealist I picked up the book after feeling like something wasn?™t quite with our relationship. I felt he?™d become arrogant, difficult to talk with and generally less enjoyable to be around. I assumed it was because I was his stepmum and he had for some unknown reason lost respect for me. After a while I had begun to find it hard to take. I found myself complaining to my partner about him. What I hadn?™t realised is that my complaining had become daily and at times hourly!

I had a rude awakening to this one day when my usually very supportive partner said sharply to me ??Don?™t tell me. Sort it out with him?? I was really taken aback and quite hurt at first, feeling aggrieved, unheard and unsupported.

Then I thought about it. How come my usually very supportive and considerate partner had spoken to me in this way? That?™s when my realisation struck and I knew I had to do something about it. That?™s when I got the book.

Part of what makes raising children so hard is the lack of education we have. It's like the old saying, 'They don't come with a manual'.

But there is one small thing that that could make a huge difference. It could be the difference between calm and peace as opposed to anger and frustration with your child. This positive difference comes from understanding what's going on.