Reply to Step parents in blended families, what is the answer to "is he your only child?"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]My answer is different when my kids are around.  If my kids are not with me, my answer is (4), 2 bio sons and 2 step daughters.  If any of my kids are with me, I would never differentiate bio and step.  It would send a message to my step daughters that they are somehow "less" important than my bio kids.  I do not ever refer to any of the kids as "half siblings".[/quote]

Great point. I was a PP and would never introduce any of the kids as my "step-children."  I say that these are our kids when introducing or any other context when the kids are around.  I also refer to them with  our bio kids as "your older sister," never a half-sibling. [/quote]

Step-kid here.  I always HATED it when my stepmother made a huge show about introducing us as "her children." We were not her children, and she didn't treat us that way.  She also had a strange fixation on never saying "half-sibling" as if that somehow detracted from the relationship the half-siblings had. The fact is -- all the kids had good relationships on their own, and we ALL knew that we were halves & steps to each other.  Using the correct terminology did not impact us at all, and just reflected my stepmother's own pathological need to present a "we're one happy famileeee!!" front to the world, in a way that felt very inauthentic, erasing, and uncomfortable.  Kids know what their family relationships are; to act like it's unspeakable to acknowledge your step or half sib has a different configuration of parents is dysfunctional.
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