Making the Best of Second Best: A Guide to Positive Stepparenting [Paperback]

Kathleen Fox (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

In Making the Best of Second Best, I have done my best to write honestly about stepfamilying and at the same time to emphasize the positives. Through my family's experiences (including my own mistakes), I've learned some specific strategies for living comfortably in a stepfamily. I also believe that it's crucial for parents and stepparents to take a strong and active role. In a stepfamily, adults who are trying too hard to be liked or who are afraid of losing their kids often fail to provide the strong parenting that children need. This is one of the reasons divorce is harmful for kids, and one of the reasons that it's important to make the "second best" of a stepfamily as good as you possibly can.

I also have tried to emphasize the positives about stepparenting. It can be much more than simply enduring in a difficult situation. You can use it to become a better parent and a better person, and you can even enjoy it. The book is based on many of the principles found in twelve-step programs. Those principles are the basis of my relationships with my husband and our kids, and I think they are essential in creating a healthy blended family.

From the Back Cover

Kathleen Fox has shared the challenges of stepfamilying with her husband, two children and three stepchildren since 1989. Her column on blended families ran for three years in The Dallas Morning News. She has also published magazine articles and edited a number of books on personal growth. She lives with her family in South Dakota.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 182 pages
• Publisher: Foxcraft Inc (July 31, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0966554302
• ISBN-13: 978-0966554304
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #336,085 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #51 in Books > Parenting & Relationships > Family Relationships > Stepparenting & Blended Families

More About the Author

Kathleen Fox grew up on a South Dakota farm and currently lives in the Black Hills, halfway between Mount Rushmore (which, despite rumors, is not in North Dakota) and Sturgis (which, during the August motorcycle rally, locals sometimes wish was in North Dakota).

Despite college majors in English and art, Kathleen has never had a job that required her to ask, "Would you like fries with that?" She has, however, worked as a secretary, built computers, and served as executive director of Onsite Training, which offered co-dependency treatment programs.

Kathleen is the mother of two and stepmother of three adult children, as well as the grandmother of eight (at last count). As her kids could attest, she was frugal when frugal wasn't cool. She presents workshops on thrift and wise money management based on her co-authored book Conscious Finance.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

44 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wise and down to earth advice, December 1, 1999

By 

Susan Wilkins-Hubley - See all my reviews

This review is from: Making the Best of Second Best: A Guide to Positive Stepparenting (Paperback)

Kathleen Fox offers a day-to-day practical guide to positive stepparenting in a blended family.... Other titles for this book could very well have been "How to Get Along In Your Blended Family Without Being a Doormat", or "How to Change Your Negative Attitude into A Positive One", or "How to Create A Healthy Stepfamily for the Children". This is a book that can help all us enormously, and I would especially recommend it as a must read to every SWC member who has very recently or is about to enter into a blended family. The author does an excellent job of letting you know what you are getting into and how to react to a highly, more complicated and difficult situation than getting married for the first time where no children are involved. A blended family is far more complicated than the original family. You entered into a marriage where the baggage was not dropped down the street on your wedding day. Her life was far from perfect, and she admits that she too went through a lot of pain, anger, resentment and temper tantrums.

There were many days when she, like me, wanted to run away from it all. I like Ms. Fox because she is one of us, someone I could very much relate to. She also very wisely tells you the importance of taking care of yourself. She is also telling us the rewards of hanging in there.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent!, July 17, 2001

By 

Geovanna (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Making the Best of Second Best: A Guide to Positive Stepparenting (Paperback)

I would like to thank Ms. Fox for such a wonderful book! I just became a stepmom of two and have no kids on my own. I have no experience whatsoever on parenting. Even though the book is more focus on children from both sides I found it very helpful! It gave me a lot of knowledge on what the kids are thinking and their behavior. After reading "Making the Best of Second Best", my life has been very easy with my husband and stepkids. I recomend this book 100%. Once again, thank you Ms. Fox!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book for the stepmomther or second wife!, April 11, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Making the Best of Second Best: A Guide to Positive Stepparenting (Paperback)

This book was very well done, it hit home on many points and shows the reader that a positive relationship with stepchildren is very possible! I loved this book and refer to it quite often. Don't let the title fool you.