Tiny Pep Talks for Stepparents

By Blended Family FrappéSociety & Culture Relationships Parenting Kids & Family

Tiny Pep Talks for Stepparents episodes

September 07, 2025 🌟 Imperfect stepparenting still counts
You do not need to be perfect to be a good stepparent. You’re certainly not responsible for living up to someone else’s unrealistic stepparenting expectations. Or your own unrealistic expectations!
Read the full transcript on Substack >>
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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blendedfamilyfrappe.substack.com
4 min
August 31, 2025 🤨 SHOULD we parent our stepkids though?
If you need help wrapping your brain around the idea of of disengaging in a positive way, I wrote a whole ebook to help with that: ➡️ Not Your Circus, Not Your Monkeys: The Frustrated Stepparent's Guide to Reclaiming Personal Peace. It includes advice and a step-by-step how-to along with my personal stories about disengaging, plus a bunch of different “how I disengaged” examples from other stepparents.
This ebook is included as a perk for our paid subscribers on Substack, but you can also buy it as a standalone right here.
Read the full episode transcript on Substack >>
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➡️ STRUGGLING? START HERE!
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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blendedfamilyfrappe.substack.com
4 min
August 24, 2025 🐸 Frogs in boiling water
A high conflict ex can turn stepfamily life into a nightmare. How can stepparents keep from getting cooked ourselves?
Read the full transcript on Substack >>
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➡️ STRUGGLING? START HERE!
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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blendedfamilyfrappe.substack.com
4 min
August 17, 2025 🏆 Step 1 of stepfam success
It literally took years for Dan & I to get on the same page as a stepcouple. Which, it turns out, is pretty normal in a blended family. That sure doesn’t make it easy though! Which is why we put together this guide: How to Actually Blend: The Missing Instruction Manual for Stepcouples.
You might also want to check out:
The 3 phases (& 7 stages) of blending your family
Blended family red flags
Read the full transcript on Substack >>
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➡️ STRUGGLING? START HERE!
🧡 JOIN OUR SUPPORT COMMUNITY
🗣️ SHARE YOUR OWN STORY!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blendedfamilyfrappe.substack.com
5 min
August 10, 2025 ❤️‍🩹 Self-care when you can’t even
So much of successfully navigating stepparenting depends on our ability to think outside the box — to get creative, to redefine how “family” looks and feels, to reassess what it means to be a stepparent in a way that actually works for us. And all of that applies to self-care for stepparents as well: it’s probably not gonna look how you thought. Which is normal and okay.
Read the full transcript on Substack >>
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➡️ STRUGGLING? START HERE!
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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blendedfamilyfrappe.substack.com
4 min
August 03, 2025 💩 Those problems were already there.
A pep talk for stepparents who get gaslit into believing that the dysfunction at home and/or between co-parents is somehow their fault.
Read the full transcript on Substack >>
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➡️ STRUGGLING? START HERE!
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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blendedfamilyfrappe.substack.com
4 min
July 27, 2025 🤣🤦🏻‍♀️ Spoiled rotten
How to deal when your stepkids are the very definition of a special snowflake.
Read the full transcript on Substack >>
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➡️ STRUGGLING? START HERE!
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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blendedfamilyfrappe.substack.com
3 min
July 20, 2025 💁🏻‍♀️ My take on “don’t take it personally”
The most infuriating stepparenting advice I heard/read over and over again was “Oh just don’t take it personally! It’s not you; it’s the role. Your stepkid would treat anyone in your position the same way.”
Today, I'll share what I wish those folks would've said instead.
Read the full transcript on Substack >>
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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blendedfamilyfrappe.substack.com
5 min
July 13, 2025 ❤️‍🩹 Parental alienation perspective shift
Parental alienation is the most “dark night of the soul” challenge we faced in our blended family... but eventually our stepfamily did find hope and healing.
Read the full transcript on Substack >>
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➡️ STRUGGLING? START HERE!
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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blendedfamilyfrappe.substack.com
4 min
July 06, 2025 ➡️ The #1 thing that would've helped me the most as a new stepmom
Knowing what counts as “normal” in a stepfamily would’ve made a HUGE difference in how I approached becoming a stepmom. I was completely unprepared for how hard this role was gonna be.
Read the full transcript on Substack >>
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➡️ STRUGGLING? START HERE!
🧡 JOIN OUR SUPPORT COMMUNITY
🗣️ SHARE YOUR OWN STORY!

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit blendedfamilyfrappe.substack.com
5 min