National Stepfamily Day - September 16th

In the United States at least, September 16 is "National Stepfamily Day". A day dedicated to stepfamilies.

Being a step-parent is a huge resposibility and undertaking. There are many pitfalls and it takes a lot of effort to make things work. Two of my nephews were brought up with a stepfather, not entirely successfully. My '
Brother in Law clearly favoured his own two children over his stepchildren and as an outsider, I can see huge differences in character between the two pairs of children. Of course there are other factors involved and I don't see everything that goes on, but in some ways his influence is very apparent. That's not to say that there is anything wrong with my older nephews, on the contrary, to me they seem more respectful and less 'arrogant' than their younger siblings.

I also found myself in the situation of being a stepparent temporarily. I found it very difficult indeed. Not being the biological parent, I felt that I had no rights to discipline nor guide and tried to remain detached from those aspects of the role. But when a child looks to you as the 'supervising adult', 'stepmother', etc.,  it makes it very difficult.  There was a definite tendancy for me to try to be more of a friend than a parent, but sometimes the responsibility was unavoidable. When I gave my permission for the kids to do something that they wanted to do (usually only in the absence of their father) things were great. However, when I asked/told them not to do things that were wrong/dangerous/inconsiderate, the resentment started.
I wasn't a perfect stepmom, I never had children of my own and have never wanted to have children of my own. Unfortunately and with hindsight, that may have implied to those kids that I didn't want THEM, which really wasn't the case, I just wanted everyone to know that it was all new to me and that it might take a LOT of practice to get it right. I did the best that I could in the unusual and imperfect circumstances that were given, and where I made mistakes I have to live with that and learn from it.

I have a lot of respect for Step-parents, and Foster Parents, it's really not an easy job. Kudos to those who do it successfully.

A Stepmother's love... Rose Bouquet Mouse Pad by thestepmomproject
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World's Best Stepdad	World's Best Stepmom	Stepmoms Button
I Heart my stepsister T-shirt	I Heart my stepbrother T-shirt	World's Best Stepdaughter

See more Stepfamily greetings cards and gifts here.

Why only 24 hours in a day??

I've been spending so much time adding designs to and trying to promote my Animatastic store on zazzle and the associated website I set up that I haven't had time for anything else recently. My ArtformTheHeart store desperately needs reorganising and I desperately need a life, so I was wondering why there are so few hours in the day - I think I need an extra 10!!! lol

I know the length of a day is determined by the earth's rotation around the sun and that it really doesn't matter if there are 24 hours in a day, or 12 hours that are twice as long (following?) but who decided on 24 as the number of hours? Apparently, or so the theory goes, it was the ancient Egyptians who began the process (clever people huh?). They divided their nights into twelve segments based upon different star patterns that appeared throughout the night. Later in time the Greeks formalised the system by dividing daylight hours into twelve segments also. The 24 segments became known as equinoctial hours (based upon there being  12 hours of daylight and 12 hours of darkness on days of  equinoxes).

Sun Sticker by ggbythebay	Passion of the Suns Art Print by wayart
Kashmir by Graham_Conrad	Crystal Planet by Perlyyyy

When things seem tough, think of this....

One day a donkey fell into a deep well. The animal brayed for hours hoping someone would hear him and help him out of the well. Passers by stopped and looked down into the well, pondering what to do, but without ropes and tools and machinery, no-one could figure out how to save the donkey.

Eventually, one old man crouched down to the ground and scooped up some dirt in his hands. Slowly he stood and then threw the dirt into the well on top of the donkey. The onlookers at first thought he was crazy, some thought that he was trying to bury the donkey to quiet it. For hours the bystanders watched the old man, silently mocking him as his efforts were clearly futile - after all the donkey was still braying. As the light began to fade and darkness fall, one onlooker finally told the old man that his task was pointless. Without saying a word, the old man leant on the edge of the well and looked in. He extended his arm and smiled. The angry onlooker thought the old man was crazy, but himself went to the well and looked in. To his amazementhe saw the donkey with his head barely a foot from the opening of the well. With every handful of dirt that hit his back, the donkey had doing something incredible. He had shaken the dirt from his back and taken a step up. As more and more dirt was thrown upon him, so he rose up the height of the well. The angry onlooker shook his head in amazement, a smile spread across his face and he began to help the old man throw more dirt into the well. Soon the dirt was so high that the donkey could jump out of the well all on his own.

Life is going to throw dirt at you, the trick is to shake it off and take a step up. Each of our troubles is a handful of dirt. We can get out of the deepest wells by not giving up, shake it off and rise above it.

Singing Little Cartoon Donkey T-shirt by Lioness_Graphics
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