Communicating with Stepchildren

Communicating with Stepchildren

Stepkids! Talk to them wrong and they'll shut you off. How do you get it through their thick skulls? Effective communication involves talking with your stepkids, not to them. Easier said than done, huh? Here are a few tips:

• Lose the lectures  Nobody wants advice. And don't nag! The minute you start getting “that tone” in your voice, you become inaudible. From a long distance way off in his head, your child sees your mouth moving, with nothing audible coming out.
• Tell the truth  Remember that childhood b.s. meter! Truth-telling with kids doesn't mean confessing all, but it does mean not lying.
• Use active listening  Remember that active listening means listening to and trying to understand the child's thoughts and feelings. Listen silently and then paraphrase, say back again as closely as possible without interpretation what has been said.
• Don't let your disagreements escalate  Try to keep to the specifics. Nothing turns a kid's brain off worse than “You always…” or “You never….” If accusations escalate, don't play. Try taking a five-minute break.
• Cool it with the general criticism  It doesn't help, and it can be very damaging.
• Never set a kid up to be a liar  Forget the rhetorical questions: “Did you break my umbrella?”
• Use “I” statements  Saying, “I feel…” is more effective than saying, “You make me feel….”

Daily Communication

A stepfamily's identity is built slowly, through effective communication and shared experiences. Communication can happen in family meetings (and we'll go into those later), but primarily it happens every day, each time family members interact with each other. As a stepparent, your daily communications with your stepkids should involve three points:

• Communicate respect
• Communicate affection
• Communicate your expectations and goals

Communicate Respect

It's simple: You gain your stepkids' respect by showing them respect. People respond to being treated well, and kids learn by imitation. When you model respectful behavior, they learn appropriate modes of behavior. You can communicate your respect for a child's body and personal space, temperament, privacy, needs, and opinions by listening to them, observing carefully, and taking them seriously.

Sometimes it's hard for stepparents to listen to a child. It takes energy, and if you are feeling resentful of the emotional space a stepchild takes up in your life, you may not want to consider his needs. But paying respect to your stepchild will lessen the energy drain you feel. When a child (or anybody, for that matter) feels respected, he returns your efforts twofold.

Respect is not a hands-off policy (the child still needs your guidance), nor does it mean agreeing with the child's every opinion, belief, or action. Respect is an acknowledgment that a child's feelings and beliefs are valid. Respect is a starting place.

Communicate Affection

Communication is not just what you say; it's also how you say it, and it involves your body language. Not all people are comfortable expressing their deepest thoughts and emotions with words. Even for those who are, words are not always enough. A kiss, a rumpled head, a smile across the room, a wink when things are rough—nonverbal affection is just as important as beginning every sentence with an “I” statement or writing your Family Values and posting them in the kitchen (both of these are covered later). Being affectionate with your stepkids shows in a very tactile way that you care about them.

Affection doesn't always involve touching. You may not be a naturally “touchy” person. Little kids have a biological need for physical affection, but physical affection doesn't always feel natural in a stepfamily, nor is it always appropriate. (Older kids need physical affection, too, but not necessarily from you.)

If your stepchildren are preteens or teenagers, hormonal issues may come up. Incest taboos are not as strong in stepfamilies, and without the biological bond or long-term experience of raising a particular child, sexual attraction may make hugs and back rubs inappropriate or even dangerous (see more about this in Stepfamily Problems). Yet affection and nonverbal communication are not necessarily tied to physical contact. So much is communicated by the way you look at a child (and by how you say things).

Whether your stepkids are little or big, it's important to have some kinds of nonverbal communication with them. Talk together about how much physical affection you all feel comfortable with.

Communicate Your Expectations and Goals

Preconceived expectations of what stepfamily life should be like are never helpful. Once the new stepfamily has formed, however, the kids need to know what they can expect in terms of family structure, and they need to know what kinds of behaviors are acceptable and expected of them. Kids need to understand these three points:

• Family expectations  These are moral- and value-based expectations about how people in the family should behave and treat each other.
• Personal expectations  These are achievement-based expectations that kids and adults have, such as goals and expectations for academic, athletic, and developmental growth.
• Relationship expectations  These are socially based expectations: “I expect you and your stepsister to cooperate when you are cleaning up your room.”