How to navigate a blended family in a new relationship

Clement Manyathela speaks to educational psychologist Jessie-Anne Bird to find out more.

One of the hardest things to deal with in a relationship is navigating a blended family due to the introduction of children from a previous partnership into a new one.

This is especially complicated for the person with children as they try to figure out what the appropriate ways to go about including their new partners in their children's lives.

Questions arise like when to tell the partner, when to introduce the kids to the partner, how to navigate parenting styles and who to prioritise are some of the most complex questions people need to ask when attempting to blend families.

What is important, here, is to have a firm foundation that is built on trust, respect and open communication that takes it time to build itself up before it completely invests itself in something that could turn messy if not approached with caution and intention.

The relationship should focus on this foundation so should problems arise pertaining to the addition of kids into the relationship, partners are able to solve them together as a unit where the tough conversations are had instead of brushed under the rug.

Listen to the full audio below.

I suppose the brief answer is to look at what we need for a successful relationship and for that we need trust, we need communication and we need respect. That means we need to be able to trust our partners to understand and support our past, especially if that past comes with children.

Jessie-Anne Bird - Educational psychologist

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