What people must remember is that the new spouse is not the child's father or mother. They are the parent's spouse. 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.
Some families work hard and adjust quickly, and others are doomed from the start.
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. We hope our project will become a model for other school systems throughout the state and our region of the Midwest. The form used by Olympic high jumpers is a focus of Jesus Dapena, IU professor of kinesiology. Dapena has worked with Olympic athletes on their biomechanics since 1982 by analyzing videotapes of their jumping form to improve performance. In 1992, he compiled a report for the International Olympic Committee that was a biomechanical analysis of techniques used by all the Olympic high jump finalists.