This means broken original families, then remarriage involving a blended family with his and her children. As the twentieth century draws to a close, it is reported that one-third of all Americans belong to stepfamilies. Blended family-type arrangements are tough enough when only one partner brings children to the relationship. Add the complications of two sets of children and it can be very tough to almost impossible. Stereotypes, preconceptions, and dreams of the perfect family can lead to disappointment.
Kinship requires patience and understanding.
It does not come overnight or from wishing for a dream family. The challenge for couples who are blending their families is to acknowledge the ways they are different from the unbroken family. Then they can establish a new, but satisfying, form of kinship. A key factor in the success of a blended family is the age of the children at the time of the new relationship. If the children are young, less than five or six for example, their personalities are still being formed and time is on the side of the blended family's success.