Some of the other misconceptions that step-families have are:

• Children will accept the new stepparent with open arms, courtesy and pleasure.
• The stepmother will be able to be kind, gentle and loving enough that the children will quickly fall in love with her.
• The stepfather will be able to immediately handle discipline problems with the children so that they will accept authority and rules.
• Stepparents often expect that the children will really like each other and enjoy having a larger family.
• There will not be any problems with choosing common rules for children in this new unit.
• The new stepparents will really like and, even come to love, their stepchildren.
• This new loving step-family can “overcome” the influence of the other family.

• It generally takes one or two years for step-families to say that they are finally okay.

• Stepchildren will only accept discipline (teaching) from someone that they respect and with whom they have formed a relationship.
  

• Patience and lots of loving communication will be required because it takes a long time for people to feel comfortable in a step-family.

• Stepparents and stepchildren may only get to the place of learning to get along. The relationship may never get deeper than that.

• In a step-family, stress and struggle are the norm.

• Natural parents from “the other” family cannot be criticized in front of the children without causing problems in your family relationships.

• The adults in the step-family must be the grown-ups and demonstrate lots of flexibility and understanding.