Couples with children from previous relationships may need strategies. Strategies on communication, agreement on discipline – who spells out the rules and what the rules are – and on handling competing demands. It is just as important for couples to ensure that in a busy week there is time just for each other. This two session course covers:

• the differences and uniqueness inherent in stepfamilies;
• the need to let go of the past in order to devise mutual expectations, which requires good communication skills;
• parents’ roles and challenges in the stepfamily, and the need to establish positive biological and step-parent roles;
• what children experience and how they cope in stepfamilies;
• nurturing the couple bond and development of conflict resolution skills particular to the stepfamily experience and 
• charting of stepfamily stages and the building of new stepfamily traditions.