How To Get Your Step Kids To Listen To You

How do I get my stepkids to listen to me?

Getting your stepkids to listen to you is going to depend on a lot of factors. First of all, it's going to be age of the kids. So, if you're coming in with younger kids it's going to be easier than if you come in with kids from 12, 13 and up, because if it's 12 and 13 and up, it's going to be harder. But if you're coming on like Gangbusters and demanding that they listen to you right away and accept you as a parent figure you're setting yourself up for a lot of failure. You need to not come on like that. In other words, if you're coming into that household thinking, "I'm a better disciplinarian than my spouse" and you start doing that, everyone is going to resent you. The kids are going to resent you, and your partner is going to resent you, so you're not going to win here. So, come in slowly. Let your partner do the disciplining, support your partner in the disciplining, and you take a step back. And over time you can establish respect by the children in the house that you're also going to help that parent enforce the house rules and over time that can develop into you being the enforcer of the house rules. Then they will listen to you, but you have to earn this. It doesn't come just because you're a parent in the household.