"No" is a complete sentence. And it's a sentence stepparents are allowed to say.

It really is okay if you don't want to drop everything to watch your stepkids when your partner decided to change the visitation schedule at the last minute and didn't check with you first.

It's also okay if you choose not to attend yet another school event where your stepkid ignores you and your partner doesn't correct them.

And finally, it’s okay to take a break from blending your family — especially if you feel like you're the only one working at this.

Setting boundaries and saying no sometimes are a critical part of learning how to stepparent effectively. Without putting your own oxygen mask on first, pacing yourself, and knowing your own limits, you’ll quickly find yourself feeling resentful or burned out.

And if you’re listening to this like “Too late babe, I am already there” then I highly recommend you go read this: ➡️ THE DISENGAGING ESSAY 👀

It’s basically an explanation of how you got here and encouragement for how you can start course-correcting back to feeling like yourself again. xo

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