Recruit 5 people to the National Stepfamily Day-Supporting the Cause page. Once the 5 people JOIN, Email me at nationalstepfamilyday@yahoo.com with the names of those you recruited. Your name will go into a drawing. You can enter as many times, each submission requires 5 new people that have joined. Drawing will take place on March 12th, 2010. Winners will be announce on the National Stepfamily Day website (First name and last name initial only) and on the Facebook - National Stepfamily Day-Support the Cause Group.(http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/group.php?gid=126667324611&ref=ts) Winners will be notified by email.

Prizes:
•National Stepfamily Day T-Shirt

•National Stepfamily Day Mug

•National Stepfamily Day Magnet.

•National Stepfamily Day Tote Bag

•4 Session Packages (1 hour each) with a 30 min. intro call with Brigitte Wangberg of My Life Instruction. http://www.mylifeinstruction.com/

•On April 29, 2010 from 8-9pm EST, Remarriagemag.com CEO Paula Bisacre will host a live audio seminar, “The 5 Practices that Make the Most Difference for Blended Families,” exclusively for contest winners. Should you be one of the winners, you will receive call-in instructions within 5 days of the winner’s announcement. And, if you can’t attened over the phone, we’ll email you a link to the audio recording - so you can listen later. However, we encourage you to phone in for the live event - it’s going to be fun! Remarriagemag.com

•Enrollment in Creating A Successful Stepfamily by Joan Sarin MS of StepmomSOS.com - a six-week online webinar covering all the fundamental principles you need to steer your stepfamily towards success!

How to invite:

On the National Stepfamily-Supporting the Cause page (http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home#!/group.php?gid=126667324611&ref=ts)
Below the logo (left side of page) there is an “invite people to join” click on that to invite:

Husband, Wives, parents, grandparents, adult children, siblings, brother/sister in laws, cousins, friends, neighbors and co workers! You can also place this on your Facebook Wall.

Good luck and thanks for your support!

First, I want to applaud you on your contributions to the Stepmom community. As a husband with children from a previous marriage, I know first-hand the sacrifices you make in the name of love.

A nationally-published and award-winning essayist, I captured my experiences as a divorced and remarried dad in a funny and critically-acclaimed book, “The 40-Year-Old Version: Humoirs of a Divorced Dad,” which was released this year.

To my delight, the book has been extremely well received by stepmother writers and bloggers including Izzy Rose, Wednesday Martin, Jennifer Newcomb Marine, and Jacqueline Fletcher. Many consider it an entertaining and uniquely meaningful holiday gift for a remarried dad.

Given the holiday season, would you be interested in reviewing the book or posting a sample chapter on your site? I think your audience in particular would enjoy it.

I invite you to learn more about and see strong reviews for “The 40-Year-Old Version” at http://www.divorceddadbook.com. I’m pasting some of those reviews below.

My personal essays have been published in The New York Times Magazine, Newsweek, New Jersey Monthly, The Star Ledger, The New York Daily News, The New York Post, Babble.com, Chicken Soup for the Soul, and many regional parenting magazines throughout the U.S. and Canada.

Thanks for your consideration, and Happy Holidays!

Joel Schwartzberg
http://www.divorceddadbook.com
joelscorp@gmail.com

Reviews of “The 40-Year-Old Version: Humoirs of a Divorced Dad”

“As a woman who’s married to a divorced man with kids, Joel’s vulnerable wisdom hit a raw nerve…I applaud [his] courage to put his insecurities on the table, not only because it’s admirable, but because his candor is so damn funny.”
- Izzy Rose, author of The Package Deal: My (Not-So) Glamorous Transition from Single Gal to Instant Mom

“The essays in this memoir are sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, sometimes absolutely heartbreaking…I love how the book shows his feelings for his kids and documents those little awkward moments that come with life after a divorce.”
- Jacquelyn B. Fletcher, author of A Career Girl’s Guide to Becoming a Stepmom

“A captivating, humorous, insightful book offering wise, hard-earned guidance for divorced dads, this is the perfect gift for men who are co-parenting with their ex-wives.”
- Dr. Linda Nielsen, President of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children and author of Between Fathers & Daughters

“I couldn’t have bought a better present for my hubby, a Divorced Dad. We love reading it together, laughing and crying as we turn the pages of the short stories (most only 2-3 pages long) that speak VOLUMES to us as readers in a blended family. I HIGHLY recommend ALL Divorced and Separated Dads buy this book, or all Stepmoms and other family members and friends who know a Divorced/Separated Dad to buy them this book as a special gift that will be sure to uplift him in a very difficult time. No one feels alone after reading this book!”
- Enlightened Stepmom’s Group, Atlanta, Georgia

KICK IN THE PANTS! I understand the grief aspect HOWEVER this can not be used as a CRUTCH. Check out this article.

When Adult Children Won’t Leave Home
By Kris B
Watch any sitcom and you will see the 30 year old son, living in his parents’ basement, ridiculed. The old nerd that lives in his parents’ attic is the butt of every joke. However, it is truly a problem for some parents that their older child refuses to move out of the house. They have prepared themselves for the time when they would be by themselves, and their plans are delayed by a child that is too insecure to leave the nest. What can they do?
First, they must recognize the root of their problem. There are at least a couple of possibilities as to why this adult child refuses to leave his parents’ house. The first possibility is that he is simply too insecure to leave the comfort of “the nest.” The second possibility is that the child is too cheap to make his own way. Either way, this situation is a problem, both for the adult child and for his parents who have to continue to provide for him when he should be providing for himself.
There are some things that parents can do to move their child out of their house, based on which problem they are facing. Let’s consider some solutions to this problem.
First, if the adult child is insecure about being able to make it on his own, his parents need to work to give him more confidence. They have, in one sense, already failed in their responsibility, as this is something that parents should be preparing their children for long before they reach adulthood. Parents need to provide their children with responsibilities as they are growing up that will instill in them a sense of pride for their own abilities. This will develop the self esteem that is needed when they are old enough to move out into the world on their own. How can this be accomplished once the child has already reached adulthood? Here are a couple of suggestions:
1. Provide the child with responsibility. Parents should give an adult child varying and increasing responsibilities that will cause him to have confidence in his own abilities. The adult child should be given such roles as providing meals for the whole household, clean up after meals, pay certain bills, be responsible for making sure that the lawn care is completed, and other regular tasks.
2. Require accountability for responsibilities. It is not good enough to just ask the child to participate in household tasks. He has to be responsible for those tasks. If he is not held accountable for the tasks, he will never learn what it takes to provide for himself. He should also be using his own money to provide for certain things. This teaches him the responsibility necessary to fulfill his role, and prepare him for the world.
Secondly, if the child is just too cheap to take on the responsibility of living on his own, his parents need to “encourage” him to move out of their house. How can they accomplish this? Here are a couple of suggestions for this problem:
1. Charge rent. Frequently, when an adult child refuses to move out of his parents’ home, it is because they have “free rent.” That is money that could be spent on his own desires. After all, it is a small trade off to stay at home if he could buy that 60 inch flat panel TV instead of paying rent. How can this problem be resolved? Charge the same amount of rent to your child that he would have to pay if he got his own apartment. Many parents feel guilty about this, but they should not. It is not unreasonable to expect an adult to provide for himself, even if he is still living in your home!
2. Set rules. This is another area about which parents feel guilty. They believe that if their child is an adult, they have no right to set rules. Many of us heard our parents tell us that we would not be permitted to do certain things while living in their home. As long as a child lives in his parents’ house, they are susceptible to their rules. Rules that are inconvenient for an adult child will inspire them to make the move into the real world. A 10 PM curfew will work amazing miracles for a child who wants a social life! Other rules concerning visitors into the home, parties and the like will also help to make sure that child will reconsider the desire to live at home.
3. Stick to your guns. No matter what happens, parents have to hold fast to the rules that they make. Do not permit your child to keep you from enforcing the rules that you make. If the rent is not paid, and the rules are not followed, do what any good landlord would do: evict! Parents are not doing a child any favors by continuing to pamper them, and spoil them. If he refuses to pay, and you acquiesce to him, then he will never be motivated to move on with the natural progression of life.
Adult children, who refuse to leave their parents’ home, certainly are a problem. Whether there is a social problem that keeps the child from having the confidence to go out into the world, or if they are simply too cheap and lazy to move out into the world, there is a problem. Parents have to do something to make their children mature enough to take on the responsibilities of an adult. As a last resort, parents have the option of simply kicking their adult child out of the house. Lets hope it doesn’t come down to that!

http://www.associatedcontent.c.....tml?cat=25