Advantages and Disadvantages of the Step Family

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Advantages and Disadvantages of the Step Family

Advantages

  • Financial Stability - two families being brought together can bring a better income than a single-parent family, especially if both parents work. Even if both parents don't work, one partner will be able to stay at home and look after children. This could give the other partner the opportunity to work longer hours or get a better-paid job, resulting in financial benefits.
  • Fresh-Start - step families offer people a fresh start at a happy life and it can be like a clean slate for a partner and their children. Furthermore, if the children see their parent and their parent's partner in a happier and less stressful relationship, the children will soon too become happier and once more have a stable family structure to grow up in.
  • Wider World View - children (and adults) who experience divorce and remarriage in some way grow to understand the importance of good relationships and the fact that not every family is perfect. They can also compare both family situations they've been in and learn from any mistakes that they have seen in their family situation, and also take on board the positives.
  • Better Role models - blended families give children another adult to look up to and learn from, which makes it easier for them to see and mimic positive traits in adults.

Disadvantages

  • Jealousy - having two families or one family that is formed after a previous family can cause both children and parents involved to begin comparing the different situations and often preferring one to the other. This can cause problems in relationships, for example, if a child preferred spending time with their original father over their original mother.
  • Confusion around roles - there might be some confusion around who has the right to discipline children, for example. The step parent might not feel as though they have the right to discipline their step child or the child might not respect them. There might be confusion in the household about whether or not step-parents have the right to correct or teach their partner's child.
  • Big change - it is a huge change of situation, especially for a child who has to move house and live with new people. The change can disrupt their social life, education and many other things which can be very hard. Furthermore, if they are older, they may have witnessed relationship troubles in their parent's previous marriage, which could effect them mentally.

Evaluation

Overall, step families can have lots of positives, including giving families a fresh start after a possibly traumatic experience and giving a person another chance at happy marriage and family. On the other hand, it could cause struggles in the relationship of the children with their parent from a previous marriage, which could result in jealousy and communication problems within the family.

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