If you are a stepmother then you know it is not all a bed of roses. Yes, there are the great times with your new love and you get to be part of a family. Then there is the part that you have heard so much about. Sometimes your stepchildren seem to hate your guts and just want you out of their life. You quickly find out that your step-children get angry if you do not make the dinner the way they are used to it, or they resent being told what to do or being disciplined by you. They compare you to their friend's parents and their mother. Sometimes it seems as if nothing is going right and you just want to give up.

It does not have to be this way. You do not have to be hurt just because you are raising kids that are not your own biological children. You do not have to have a bitter, resentful relationship with your stepchildren.