So much respect for those non-biological
BECOMING a parent for the first time brings challenges for anyone.
Learning to negotiate those uniquely fragrant early nappies; surviving on three hours sleep and still managing to brush your teeth by 1pm; working out why anyone would need that talk about contraception when you’re about to leave hospital.
But I reserve a special respect for step parents.
They might have skipped the tough stuff of the early days, but being parachuted into a fully formed family because you happen to have fallen in love with someone who is already a mum or dad can’t be easy.
When my husband and I first started dating I was a single parent with two young boys, aged five and two.
He led what you might call a ‘bachelor’ lifestyle. He drove a car that was sporty, clean and hadn’t been chosen because it was compatible with an Isofix base. He left the office when he wanted and would usually go for a drink, or a run – you know, impromptu, spontaneous stuff.
Weekday dinners could be a simple ready meal in the microwave and were rarely preceded by a debate about who does and doesn’t like mushrooms or which duplicitous methods you’d used to hide broccoli in there somewhere.
Although he had some experience with kids, this largely amounted to borrowing friends’ children for an excuse to go and see Transformers at