The Stepmom Diaries | Blended Family & Stepmom Support Podcast

Can you love your stepkids and still grieve the child you may never have? It's one of those complicated feelings that can be incredibly hard to admit, even to yourself.

Infertility as a stepmom brings a unique kind of grief. You're already part of a family, helping raise children, and watching your partner experience parenthood while wondering if you'll ever have a child of your own. And the guilt, resentment, and heartbreak that can come with those feelings? They're not always easy to talk about.

In this episode, Cameron sits down with Jen Powell, founder of The Sober Stepmom, a coach who supports childless stepmothers navigating identity, belonging, grief, and the emotional complexities of stepfamily life.

Together, they open up about their personal experiences with IVF, including Cameron's five unsuccessful rounds of treatment and Jen's heartbreaking decision to cancel an embryo transfer.

But this conversation goes beyond infertility. They explore what happens when the family you're already part of makes it harder to pursue the family you imagined, and why those feelings can bring an entirely different layer of guilt and grief.

• Why infertility as a stepmom can feel especially isolating when you're already helping raise someone else's children.

• The complicated emotions childless stepmoms often struggle to admit, including guilt, resentment, and grief.

• What led Jen to cancel her embryo transfer and why that decision was both heartbreaking and necessary.

• Why putting yourself first during infertility doesn't make you a bad stepmom, even when other people don't understand your decisions.

Loving your stepfamily and grieving the child you hoped to have can both be true, and you deserve the space to feel both.

• Connect with Jen Powell, founder of The Sober Stepmom:

• Instagram: @the_sober_stepmom

• Facebook: The Sober Stepmom

• Grab our FREE "10 Essential Scripts for Stepmoms": https://stepfamilycertification.com/stepmom-scripts

Please consider rating and reviewing The Stepmom Diaries on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Your feedback helps the show grow and reach more blended families who need honest conversations like this one.

Should a stepmom discipline stepkids? It's one of those questions that sounds simple until you're the one living it.

A lot of stepmoms come in wanting to help, be supportive, and feel like a real part of the family. But when you're expected to parent without the same history, authority, or connection, things can go sideways fast.

In this episode, Cameron sits down with April Eldemire, LMFT, a licensed marriage and family therapist, couples therapist, blended family expert, and former stepmom with more than 13 years of experience working with couples.

Together, they dig into the big question: Should a stepmom discipline her stepkids, and if so, when?

April breaks down what stepmoms often take on too soon, what the biological parent should be handling instead, and why trying to "parent like a mom" before the relationship is there can backfire.

They also get into the bigger issue underneath all of this: What is actually your job as a stepmom? Because the answer may look very different than you think, and it may even look different with each stepchild.

• When should a stepmom discipline stepkids

• Why connection before correction matters so much when building trust with your stepkids.

• How unclear roles can leave stepmoms feeling like the bad guy, and what the biological parent can do to better support their partner. april-cameron

• The simple 15-minute weekly trick that can completely change how you and your partner handle stepfamily stress, parenting, and decisions.

If you have ever wondered whether you are too involved, not involved enough, or taking on responsibilities that should belong to your partner, this conversation will help you think differently about your role.

Being a good stepmom does not mean doing all the parenting. Sometimes the healthiest thing you can do for your relationship with your stepkids, your partner, and yourself is to get very clear about what is actually yours to carry.

Connect with April Eldemire, LMFT: Website: Couples-thrive.comInstagram, YouTube, Facebook and TikTok: @couplesthrive

Grab our FREE "10 Essential Scripts for Stepmoms": https://stepfamilycertification.com/stepmom-scripts

April's Blended Family Quick Win Toolkit gives couples practical tools to reduce "my kid/your kid" conflict and start parenting more like a team in just 7 days.

Please consider rating and reviewing The Stepmom Diaries on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Your feedback helps the show grow and reach more blended families who need honest conversations like this one.

What if some of the things you've been told a blended family should look like are actually making things harder?

This episode is a special one pulled straight from our recent Stepmom Summit, where I sat down with three of the leading researchers in the stepfamily field to talk about how to make a blended family work based on what the research actually says, not what Instagram, your neighbor, or the Brady Bunch would have you believe.

Dr. Brad van Eeden-Moorefield is a professor of family science and human development at Montclair State University whose research looks at how stigma, culture, policy, and the expectations placed on families affect real stepfamily relationships.

Dr. Bailey M. Oliver-Blackburn is an associate professor at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock who studies stepfamily communication, conflict transformation, and family resilience, including what happens when children move between homes with very different rules, beliefs, and values.

Dr. Todd Jensen is a professor at UNC Chapel Hill and director of the Thriving Through Family Transitions Research Lab. Much of his work focuses on what helps kids thrive in stepfamilies and how strong relationships between stepparents and stepchildren actually develop.

And between the three of them, there is a LOT of research to unpack.

• Why there is no single right way to be a stepparent and what actually matters more for building a strong relationship with your stepkids

• What research says helps kids thrive in blended families, including warmth, timing, connection, choice, and learning to "read the room"

• How to navigate very different rules, routines, beliefs, and values between two households without making your stepchild feel stuck in the middle

• Why stepfamilies are not broken versions of first families and what decades of research tell us about creating relationships that work for your family

If you've ever wondered whether you're doing this whole blended family thing wrong, this conversation may completely change the way you look at your family. There isn't one perfect formula. There are many paths to strong relationships, and the research is finally catching up to what stepfamilies have needed to hear for a long time.

Get access to all of this year's Stepmom Summit recordings for just $97 and catch the sessions you missed or rewatch your favorites before the offer ends October 4th, 2026 at 11:59 PM ET: https://thestepmomsummit.com/rs-upgrade-purchase

Dr. Brad van Eeden-Moorefield: https://inside.montclair.edu/directory/brad-van-eeden-moorefield

Dr. Bailey M. Oliver-Blackburn: https://baileyoliverblackburn.com/

Dr. Todd Jensen: https://www.instagram.com/drtoddjensen/

Please consider rating and reviewing The Stepmom Diaries on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Your feedback helps the show grow and reach more blended families who need honest conversations like this one.

High-conflict co-parenting has a way of making it feel like someone who doesn't even live in your house somehow has way too much control over what happens inside it.

The texts, the emails, the constant curveballs, the tension with your partner... it can start to feel like your entire relationship is being shaped around someone else's chaos.

In this episode, I'm talking with Livi North, founder of Unfuck Your Co-Parenting, where she helps parents and stepparents navigate high-conflict co-parenting, parallel parenting, and difficult exes without letting the chaos take over their lives.

• How to tell the difference between normal post-divorce conflict and a truly high conflict dynamic

• Why strong boundaries matter more than trying to change a high conflict ex

• How getting angry for your partner can accidentally create even more stress

• Why parallel parenting, intentional couple time, and limits around venting can help keep the conflict from consuming your relationship

Because the truth is, you may never be able to control what a high-conflict ex does. But you can decide how much space their behavior gets to take up in your home, your relationship, and your life.

→ Connect with Livi North: Visit unfuckyourcoparenting.com for resources and coaching, including a $189 one-hour intro call; follow @unfuckyourcoparenting on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook; and listen to the Unfuck Your Coparenting podcast.

→ Upgrade your bedtime with Cozy Earth's temperature-regulating bamboo sheets and pajamas, and use code STEPMOMDIARIES at CozyEarth.com for up to 20% off.

→ Unfuck Your Co-Parenting: The Coaching Couch Podcast (Available wherever you listen to podcasts)

→ Connect with Livi on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Facebook: search the handle @UnfuckYourCoparenting

→ Free High Conflict Ex Guide: Get our FREE 10 Quick Tips To Dealing With Your Spouse's Ex, and stop letting your partner's high-conflict ex take over your life at stepfamilycircle.com/high-conflict-ex-tips.

Please consider rating and reviewing The Stepmom Diaries on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Your feedback helps the show grow and reach more blended families who need honest conversations like this one.

Have you ever felt like the harder you try to be a good stepmom, the worse things seem to get?

That was me in my first few years of stepfamily life. I tried to make the kids like me, stepped into authority too quickly, rearranged my entire life around our parenting schedule, and kept wondering why I still felt like I was failing.

What I eventually learned is that I wasn't dealing with a lack of effort. I was trying to navigate a stepfamily using a first-family blueprint.

Once I started digging into published stepfamily research and the academic work around stepfamily dynamics, so much of what I had been experiencing finally made sense. Those lessons, combined with my own lived experience, ultimately became part of the foundation for the Stepfamily Coach Academy.

• Why trying too hard to make your stepkids like you can actually work against connection

• Why building a relationship needs to come before stepping into authority

• How treating your stepfamily like a first family can leave you feeling like you're constantly failing

• Why keeping your own life, understanding your role, and learning the actual research on stepfamilies can change everything

If you're a newer stepmom looking for tips for new stepmoms, I hope this episode gives you something I desperately needed back then: proof that there really is a roadmap for this.

The 2026 Stepmom Summit: Out Loud → https://thestepmomsummit.com/We're LIVE September 14th-18th, 2026 with more than 30 experts talking about the parts of stepfamily life we need to start saying Out Loud!

Stepfamily Coach Academy → https://stepfamilycertification.com/

Want to understand stepfamily dynamics on a much deeper level or use what you've lived through to help other families? The Stepfamily Coach Academy brings together published research, the academic study of stepfamilies, practical frameworks, and lived experience to train the next generation of stepfamily coaches.

If this episode made you think of another stepmom who is trying way too hard and wondering why it still isn't working, send it to her. And if you haven't already, subscribe and leave a review so more stepmoms can find the support they've been looking for.

Please consider rating and reviewing The Stepmom Diaries on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Your feedback helps the show grow and reach more blended families who need honest conversations like this one.

Have you ever felt like people see you differently the second they find out you're a stepmom?

The wicked stepmother stereotype has been around for centuries, showing up in fairy tales, movies, and cultural stories long before any of us stepped into this role. And even when no one says it out loud, that stereotype can quietly shape how other people see stepmoms and how stepmoms start seeing themselves.

In this episode, Cameron unpacks the shame behind the wicked stepmother stereotype and the pressure so many stepmoms feel to prove they're loving enough, patient enough, helpful enough, or "good" enough to belong.

She also explores what happens when that pressure turns into overfunctioning, shrinking in your own home, or staying silent about how hard stepfamily life can actually be.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why the wicked stepmother stereotype still affects modern stepmoms

• How shame can show up as overfunctioning, shrinking, and silence

• Why comparing yourself to your stepchild's biological mom puts you in a competition you were never supposed to enter

• How to separate the cultural story about stepmoms from the truth about who you actually are

You did not break up a family simply by becoming part of one. And you do not have to spend your stepmom life proving that you deserve your place in it.

Sometimes the first step is recognizing that the story you've been carrying was never yours to begin with.

• Free Resource: 10 Essential Scripts for Stepmoms: https://stepfamilycertification.com/stepmom-scripts

If this episode hit home, share it with another stepmom who might still be trying to prove she isn't the villain in somebody else's story. And don't forget to follow The Stepmom Diaries so more stepmoms can find these conversations too.

Please consider rating and reviewing The Stepmom Diaries on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Your feedback helps the show grow and reach more blended families who need honest conversations like this one.

What does your stepchild actually need from you, even if they cannot put it into words?

In this episode of The Stepmom Diaries, Cameron sits down with Robin Breuner, host of Step Stories: Thriving and Surviving Life in Blended Families, to talk about the stepmom and stepchild relationship from a perspective stepmoms do not often get to hear: the adult stepdaughter looking back.

Robin shares what she wishes her own stepmothers had understood, what she now sees differently as an adult, and why giving stepchildren space to maintain their relationship with their biological parent can actually help build trust with a stepparent.

• What Robin wishes her stepmothers had understood about her behavior as a child

• Why stepchildren may need one on one time with their biological parent, and why stepmoms should not take that personally

• How stepmoms can become a safe adult without trying to replace a child's mother

• Why education and realistic expectations matter before and during stepfamily life

• Learn more about Robin: https://robinbruner.com

• Follow Robin on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stepstoriespodcast/

• Free Resource: 10 Essential Scripts for Stepmoms: https://stepfamilycertification.com/stepmom-scripts

Please consider rating and reviewing The Stepmom Diaries on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Your feedback helps the show grow and reach more blended families who need honest conversations like this one.

When Bio Mom Doesn't Like You: Dealing With a High Conflict Bio Mom

There are some parts of becoming a stepmom you expect to be complicated.

Your relationship with your partner's ex probably isn't one of them.

But when you're dealing with a high conflict bio mom, suddenly someone outside your marriage can affect your schedule, your relationship with your stepchildren, and sometimes even how peaceful your own home feels.

And if you're someone who is used to being liked? It can be especially hard to understand why this person seems determined not to like you.

In this episode of The Stepmom Diaries podcast from 2021, Cameron talks about how stepmoms can navigate conflict with a biological mom without getting pulled deeper into the drama. She also shares one of her favorite communication strategies for high conflict situations: the BIFF method developed by Bill Eddy of the High Conflict Institute.

• How to create healthier boundaries with a high conflict bio mom

• How the BIFF communication method can keep difficult conversations from escalating

• Why protecting kids from adult conflict and loyalty binds matters so much

• How to stop waiting for bio mom to like, approve of, or validate you

One of the biggest shifts Cameron talks about is realizing that you do not have to convince your stepchildren's mom that you are a good person, a good partner, or a good stepmom.

You can control your boundaries. You can control how you communicate. You can control the environment you help create inside your own home.

You cannot control what she thinks about you.

And sometimes accepting that is where the peace starts.

Get your FREE copy of my guide"10 Quick Tips To Dealing With Your Spouse's Ex" that you can download here: https://stepfamilycircle.com/high-conflict-ex-tips

Bill Eddy, of The High Conflict Institute, has some great resources to deal with high-conflict situations - both in blended families and in the workplace.

Another great resource is Stepmom Magazine - an online publication with the tagline, "Even when it's good, it's complicated."

Please consider rating and reviewing The Stepmom Diaries on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Your feedback helps the show grow and reach more blended families who need honest conversations like this one.

Have you ever felt like you have to be helpful enough, easygoing enough, or needed enough to truly earn your place in your stepfamily? Psychotherapist and bestselling author Terri Cole joins Cameron to explore how a father wound in stepmom life can quietly show up as overfunctioning, people pleasing, resentment, and the belief that everyone else's needs should come before your own.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Why high achieving, capable women can still carry a deep worthiness wound

• How overfunctioning and constantly putting yourself last can become your way of trying to belong

• How to tell when a difficult stepfamily situation may also be activating something from your past

• How stepmoms can help children feel seen, valued, and emotionally safe without trying to replace a parent

Terri also shares her own experience becoming a stepmom to three teenage boys and why she believes stepmoms have to stop silently suffering, walking on eggshells, and waiting for someone else to give them permission to matter.

Terri Cole's new book, Father Wound Learn more and preorder at fatherwoundbook.com. Terri also shares information there about her virtual Father Wound retreat for preorder customers.

Connect with Terri Cole Find Terri, her work, podcast, upcoming appearances, and more at terricole.com.

Please consider rating and reviewing The Stepmom Diaries on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. Your feedback helps the show grow and reach more blended families who need honest conversations like this one.

The Stepmom Summit is back for its 6th year, and this year we're going Out Loud.

Join Cameron Normand and more than 30 stepfamily and relationship experts, including Patricia Papernow, Terri Cole, Jamie Scrimgeour, and Casey and Meygan Caston of Marriage365, for five days of real conversations, practical support, and answers to the questions stepmoms are actually asking.

The Stepmom Summit is completely FREE, 100% virtual, and 100% LIVE, which means you can join from anywhere and ask the experts your questions in real time.

Find your voice. Take your place. Make no apologies.

Register free now at www.thestepmomsummit.com