The stepchild's perspective

There was a lot of turmoil in my relationship with my mom's second husband, in part because I was ten when they got together, and I think that's a hard age in general, and in part because he was not a man who understood children.  When she married the man who is now her husband I was eighteen, and since I was going off to college and starting my own life, it was much easier. He is also a great guy, which helps!  I think that easing the transition for the children is very hard, but can be done.  I think that if I had felt more listened to and respected when I was ten, my former stepdad would have fared better.