They are the parent's spouse. Often, the new person tries to become the child's father or mother, and this frequently has disastrous results. When blended families fail, he said, this can easily create for the children a belief that relationships don't work and families don't work. These children then enter future relationships with an expectation of failure. Billingham, who is in a blended family himself, said there is no magic timetable for success in these families.
Some families work hard and adjust quickly, and others are doomed from the start.
It is very individualistic. There is no way to predict success, but I always recommend that people speak with a certified marriage and family therapist, not for therapy but for insight on problems to expect and ways to deal with them. Austin has been elected president of the Academy of Leisure Sciences, a national organization of 80 education professionals who study leisure behavior and are selected on the basis of scholarly achievement. Austin, a professor of recreation and park administration, has been a faculty member at IU for 24 years. This is the third national professional organization he has headed.