The Nacho Kids Podcast: Blended Family Lifesaver

In this episode of the Nacho Kids Podcast, Lori, co-founder of Nacho Kids, interviews stepmom Whitney. Whitney has been blending for 6 years and has one 14-year-old stepdaughter. She is childfree and loving it! Like many stepmoms, Whitney struggled with not taking things personally, feeling alone in the struggle, and letting go of some of the need for control in the home.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Not taking things personally
• Being pushed to tell stepkid you love them
• Feeling rejected by the stepkid
• Having a dad who is a stepkid
• Seeing a therapist

In this episode of the Nacho Kids Podcast, Lori, co-founder of Nacho Kids, interviews "Stepmom on the crazy train in southwest Missouri". She's been blending for 7 years, has a 13-year-old stepson, and a 12-year-old bio son. Her stepson has been diagnosed with ADHD, ODD, OCD, anxiety, and PTSD. She and her husband dated briefly 20 years ago and found their way back to each other. She joined the Nacho Kids Academy to help with her blended struggles and has even taught her son how to Nacho!

In this episode, we discuss:

• Desiring to be a nuclear family
• Wanting to be "Super Stepmom"
• Dealing with a high conflict bio mom
• Having a stepkid with mental health challenges
• Your significant other becoming less attractive because of his lack of parenting

In this episode of the Nacho Kids Podcast, Lori, co-founder of Nacho Kids, interviews stepmom Shay. Shay has been blending for 5 years, has two stepkids, three bio kids, and one "ours" kid. The hardest part of the blend for Shay has been the lack of respect from stepkids since the visitation schedule changed.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Visitation schedule changes
• Summer visitation challenges
• Stepkids tattling on the stepmom
• When the bio parent is a "Disney Dad"
• Not wanting to bond with the stepkids

In this episode of the Nacho Kids Podcast, Lori and David, co-founders of Nacho Kids, interview John Burwell. John is a stepdad in his blend of four years. He has two adult bio sons and two stepdaughters, ages 21 and 12. John takes care of his blend financially but is expected to step back from any parenting of his youngest stepdaughter. John is dealing with feeling used, taken advantage of, and not part of the family.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Stepdads struggle too
• Financially providing for your stepkid only to be told not to parent the stepkid
• Loyalty binds
• When bio dad decides to re-enter the picture
• When bio dad chooses to not help financially

In this episode of the Nacho Kids Podcast, Lori, co-founder of Nacho Kids, interviews Chris Burcher a stay-at-home dad. Chris is the bio dad in the blend and has been blending for 6 years. He has four daughters, including one of which is an "ours" daughter. Chris understands the challenges his wife has had to deal with being a stepmom.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Being a stay-at-home dad
• When the kids don't like the new girlfriend/stepmom
• Adding an "ours" baby to the blend
• Being stuck in the middle of the wife and bio kids
• Being accused of not loving the "ours" baby as much as the kids from the first marriage

In this episode of the Nacho Kids Podcast, Lori and David, founders of Nacho Kids, interview Ron Deal. Ron has a new book out discussing preparing to blend. Nacho Kids, along with Ron, cannot express enough the importance of preparing to blend prior to blending.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Preparing To Blend
• Lack of counselors and therapists that understand the blend
• "Coupleness" versus "Famliness"
• Today isn't representative of every day in the future
• Lack of blended family support in churches

*** Disclaimer: This episode has mention of abuse - physical and drug, and murder. ***

In this episode of the Nacho Kids Podcast, Lori, co-founder of Nacho Kids, interviews a Texas stepmom! This Texas stepmom has grown children but married a man with kids still at home. She has four bio kids and four stepkids (one of which is not her husband's bio child) ranging in age from 29 to 8 years old. She and her husband also have custody of her niece, and at one point had a foster child too. They've been blending 3-½ years and the best advice she's received is to not judge her significant other for his differences in parenting styles.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Having adult bio kids and stepkids still in the home
• Having different parenting styles than your significant other
• Being a stepkid
• When your bio kid doesn't like your partner
• When one of your stepkids isn't your partner's biological child

In this episode of the Nacho Kids Podcast, Lori, co-founder of Nacho Kids, and Tracy Poizner of the Essential Stepmom sit down for a chat. They entertain us with a little blended family skit about what is not Nachoing. Together, they are proof the blend doesn't have to suck.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Seeing things differently
• Communication is key in the blended family
• Examples of NOT Nachoing
• Blending is not the same for the childless stepmom
• Stepkid vs Bio kid cup on the counter

In this episode of the Nacho Kids Podcast, Lori, co-founder of Nacho Kids, interviews stepmom Gabby Gast. Gabby has been blending for four years, has a stepson who is nine and two adopted kids from her first marriage, a ten-year-old daughter and an eight-year-old son. Eight months into her current relationship, she was diagnosed with end-stage cystic fibrosis and had to have a lung transplant. The hardest part of the blend for her is how bio mom's toxicity affects stepson's relationships with her and her husband.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Loyalty binds between kids and bio parent
• Toxic bio mom
• Having different parenting styles
• Resentment in the blend
• A reset in the blend

In this episode of the Nacho Kids Podcast, Lori, co-founder of Nacho Kids, interviews stepmom Samantha Seff - MMA fighter. Samantha has been blending for 4-½ years and is a stepmom to two stepkids, ages 18 and 17, who are with them fifty percent of the time. The bio mom is very high-conflict and that is the hardest part of their blend. The best advice she has received is learning when to step back and Nacho!

In this episode, we discuss:

• Dealing with a high-conflict bio mom
• Feeling unappreciated
• Being OCD and dealing with stepkids' messes
• Blended family expectations
• Date nights