Making Peace in Your Stepfamily [Hardcover]

Harald H. Bloomfield (Author), Robert B. Kory (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1993

Dr. Bloomfield has written this book in order to counter the typical trauma and disaster of stepfamilies. Bloomfield covers all the areas of a family but from the perspective of being a stepfamily.

"This book is important reading for anyone in a stpefamily situation. Dr. Bloomfield provides many effective tools stepfamilies can use for healing and growing." Barbara De Angelis, Ph.D.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

A startling prediction: by the year 2000 the most common type of family will be the stepfamily, not the single-parent or nuclear family. Best-selling author Bloomfield ( Inner Joy , LJ 8/80; Making Peace with Your Parents , LJ 10/1/83), himself a stepparent, covers the topic thoroughly and passionately. His theme centers on being proud of being part of a stepfamily, and to this end Bloomfield describes the commitment and perseverance needed to make it work. He discusses everything from money matters to dealing with many grandparents. The bibliography includes 40 books for stepparents and 25 for stepchildren, and an appendix lists appropriate organizations and hotlines. For most public libraries.
- Linda Beck, Indian Valley P.L., Telford, Pa.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Hyperion Books; 1 edition (June 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1562828851
• ISBN-13: 978-1562828851
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.6 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,908,074 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Interesting and warm, but misses 4 key points., October 6, 1999

By 

Peter Gerlach (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Making Peace in Your Stepfamily (Hardcover)

I have specialized in providing professional education and therapy to divorced, courting, and re/wedded couples since 1981. I am 66, a stepgrandson, stepson, and ex-stepfather and stepbrother, an invited Board member of the Stepfamily Association of America, a contributing editor to 'Your Stepfamily Online,' and the author of six books on inner-wound-recovery, effective communications, and high-nurturance relationships and stepfamilies.

Dr. Bloomfield's book is warm, encouraging, and readable - yet misses four core hazards that (I believe) every re/married partner needs to know:

1) why and how to assess and reduce co-parents' psychological wounds from a low-nurturance childhood (vs. divorce);

2) the origin and impacts of widespread blocked grief in adults and kids, and how to spot and reduce it;

3) adult unawareness of a) normal personality formation, composition, and function; (b) keys to high-nurturance families and relationships, (c) effective communication skills, (d) healthy 3-level grief, and (e) stepfamily realities and norms and implications, and...

4) little effective re/marital and co-parenting help (i.e. courtship coaching, classes, informed counseling, co-parent support groups) available in most communities and the media.

In my clinical experience, these factors often combine to block the best-intentioned adults from following well-meant stepfamily advice like Dr. Bloomfield's. If ignored, the factors inexorably promote needy partners choosing the wrong people to re/wed, for the wrong reasons, at the wrong time - and subsequent stresses and eventual re/divorce. Awareness, acceptance, and discussion of these (and related) factors can reduce three of these stressors, and help to achieve "Peace in Your Stepfamily."

For suggestions on how to choose practical (useful) books on remarriage, co-parenting, and stepfamilies, see this:

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For a free course on building a high-nurturance stepfamily, see this:

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