The Nacho Kids Podcast: Blended Family Lifesaver

In this episode of the Nacho Kids Podcast, Lori, co-founder of Nacho Kids, interviews a stepmom who tried to make the world "fair". This stepmom has been blending for 10-½ years and has two stepsons and three bio kids. She refers to her blended family as "The Brady Bunch On Steroids!" Three years ago she started Nachoing after one of the stepkids accused her of abuse.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Trying to make things "fair"
• Disney Dad syndrome
• Bio mom trying to turn the kids against the bio dad and stepmom
• Loyalty binds to bio mom
• The stepkids lying about the stepmom

In this episode of the Nacho Kids Podcast, Lori and David, co-founders of Nacho Kids, interview stepmom Paige. Paige has been blending for two and a half years and has four bio kids and five stepkids! Not only does she have a bunch of kids in the blend, but there are also three bio moms! Like many stepmoms, Paige went overboard with parenting her younger stepkids. Thankfully she found Nachoing to help her!

In this episode, we discuss:

• Taking things personally
• Stepmom expectations
• Her husband's thoughts on her Nachoing
• Flipping out on the stepkids
• Feeling like roommates with your significant other

In this episode of the Nacho Kids Podcast, Lori, co-founder of Nacho Kids, interviews a from Wisconsin. This stepmom has one stepkid and two "ours" kids, one of which is autistic. Her stepdaughter did not know about the stepmom until a week after she had the first "ours" baby. The stepdaughter comes for visitation every other weekend but the stepmom doesn't spend time with the stepdaughter alone. Her significant other wants her to love his daughter like her own and told her when they got engaged that she needed to spend time with his daughter.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Stepmom not spending time alone with the stepkid
• The significant other wanting you to love their kid like your own
• Summer visitation
• Poor eating habits of the stepkid
• Nachoing

In this episode of the Nacho Kids Podcast, Lori, co-founder of Nacho Kids, interviews stepmom Jennifer. Jennifer has been with her significant other for six years and married for three and a half years. She has two stepkids and one "ours" kid. Jennifer wasn't around the stepkids a lot prior to the marriage and believes if she would have spent a lot more time with the stepkids prior to marriage, she may not have gotten married. With each life event in Jennifer and her husband's life, the high conflict bio mom was triggered to start something. This seems to be a very common occurrence in blended families.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Kids from high conflict divorces
• Being a positive and happy place for the stepkids
• Telling the stepkids "I'm not your mom"
• The family court system
• Psychological strain from court battles
• Dealing with a very high conflict bio mom

In this episode of the Nacho Kids Podcast, Lori, co-founder of Nacho Kids, interviews stepmom Shannon from New York. Shannon has been blending for seven years. She has two stepkids, a stepdaughter who is 10 and a stepson who is twelve. Shannon also has an "ours" daughter who is six. She and her husband have been through a lot with the stepkids. When the stepson started touching the stepdaughter inappropriately at the bio mom's house and bio mom didn't think it was a big deal, bio-dad went to court for emergency custody, which he was granted until the hearing. At the hearing, bio-dad lost and the kids were returned to the bio mom. Since then, the stepdaughter does not want to come back to dad's house because she thinks what her brother did wasn't "that bad" and she's upset that her dad reacted the way he did. Shannon's husband has not seen his kids outside of therapy appointments since this happened. The therapy appointments with the son go well, but the daughter still refuses to even talk to him. Stepmom is doing her best to be supportive of her husband during all this.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Going into the blend with nuclear family expectations
• Stepmoms being scapegoats
• Family court issues
• Having an "ours" kid in the blend
• The significant other parenting their kids and their "ours" kids differently

In this episode of the Nacho Kids Podcast, Lori, co-founder of Nacho Kids, interviews stepmom Crista. Crista has been blending for 3-½ years and has two stepdaughters. Crista and her husband have one step-daughter, age 9, 50% of the time, and the other stepdaughter, age 11, full time. The youngest step-daughter and Crista get along great! The relationship between the oldest stepdaughter and Crista, is a bit more challenging.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Nachoing one stepkid and not the other
• Not setting yourself up for rejection
• You can't care more than the bio parents
• Stepmom burnout
• Nachoing lowering your stress

In this episode of the Nacho Kids Podcast, Lori, co-founder of Nacho Kids, interviews Sarah Harris. Sarah is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, a Registered Play Therapist, and a Board Certified Telemental health provider. Sarah has been in the mental health field for 14 years.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Overly engaged stepparents
• Viewing yourself as a Nanny/Babysitter
• Regulating emotions
• Nachoing - the art of non-attachment
• Understanding our triggers

In this episode of the Nacho Kids Podcast, Lori, co-founder of Nacho Kids, interviews stepmom Megan. Megan is a stepkid herself. As a stepkid, Megan didn't like her stepdad telling her mom how to parent her, so Megan went to live with her grandparents when she was 13 and never moved back in with her mom and stepdad. Megan has two bio children of her own and has been in two blended relationships. She has been in her current blended relationship for three years and her stepdaughter lives with them full time. Megan and her significant other have had some trying times with bio mom and the family court system. It took Megan two years to figure out her role in the blend, and now Nachos.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Being a stepkid with a stepparent that tells the bio parent how to parent
• Dealing with a bio mom that has drug issues
• When the other bio parent lives in a different state
• Your significant other expecting you to be "Mom"
• When the stepparent pushes the bio parent to get custody

In this episode of the Nacho Kids Podcast, Lori and David, co-founders of Nacho Kids, interview stepmom Katie. Katie is a childless stepmom who has been blending 10 years. She has three stepkids and one grand stepkid. Katie is a stepkid herself and has a good relationship with her stepdad. Katie and her husband recently moved 12 hours away from her husband's kids.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Being a childless stepmom
• Finding your own way to connect with the stepkids
• Moving into the house your significant other and their ex shared
• Nachoing the mother-in-law
• Christmas

In this episode of the Nacho Kids Podcast, Lori, co-founder of Nacho Kids, interviews Tracy, a stepmom that is in her third blended relationship!!! Yes, third! In all, she's been in blended relationships for 19 years. And let's just say there were a bunch of bio moms in the blends too! She has definitely gained a lot of experience throughout these blends! She is a Nacho Mom now and it only took her three blended relationships to figure out that Nachoing is what works best for her.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Differences in blends
• Multiple bio moms
• Nacho misconceptions
• The significant other wanting the stepmom to parent only in certain ways
• When the significant other tries to force the stepmom and stepkid to love each other
• When one of the kids still lives at home after 18