Let me be clear: I love my step kids very much. They add so much joy and light to my life I can’t imagine where I would be without them.
However, I don’t love them as though they were my kids and I were their mother. I’m NOT their mother. Not only that, but I have a daughter who would be right pissed (and with good reason) if I loved my husband’s kids just the same as I love her. I love them a lot, but it’s not the same and none of us expect it to be.
My advice on this topic is not the advice you typically read on social media, where women take swipes at each other for not being able to generate what they think are the perfect kind of warm fuzzies for their partner’s kids.
Essential Stepmom 