Blended Families: Trading Spouses, Houses and Children

The family tree has taken on a new kind of fruit. With nearly half of all marriages ending in divorce, more and more blended families are popping up all over the place. Jim is married to Kelly and is living with her and her two sons. While Jim is helping to raise Wendy's children, he is finding that the time he spends with his biological children is very limited. Fortunately, his ex-wife is very understanding. She knows that new husband has plenty of time for Sam's children.

Holiday planning for these families may require a degree in organization. While Jim and Kelly both have children from another relationship. Kevin and Emily Smith have an even more complicated situation. Both have children from a previous marriage and they share one child together. Her name is Sara. Christmas in the Smith house takes a lot of coordinating. Sam has his children from the day that school let's out for Winter Break until Christmas Day. While, Wendy has her children from Christmas Eve until New Years day. As for Sara, she will be spending a lot of time on the road this holiday season. With two sets of families, the other children will have plenty of gifts. Looks like poor little Sarah is getting the short end of the stick. Or is she?

While having two sets of families may mean two birthday parties, two stockings and twice as much Easter candy. It also means spending a lot of time traveling, missing weekend events and long summers away from home. It means putting up with step siblings, step parents and an entirely new way of life. Sometimes it even means new homes, new friends and new schools.

Then there is the case of 10 year old Amanda. She has learned the value of time at a very young age.
She was adopted by her stepfather several years ago. Now that her mother and stepfather are divorced she is facing the difficult task of dividing her time. She spends two weekends a month with her stepfather and his new wife. She spends one weekend a month with her biological father and his new family and one weekend a month at home with her mother. You do not want to know what Amanda's summer schedule looks like. In this situation Amanda has three mother figures and two father figures. She has nearly a dozen siblings and many grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. Although this may appear to be an extreme case, it is not completely uncommon. In fact it is a growing trend and the new American lifestyle for many. As the number of divorces continue to grow the act of trading spouses, houses and children will only increase.