The DHX: The Doughtie Houses Exchange

By Jill Davis Doughtie
One of the things I had to learn as a newbie stepparent is that I can’t do stuff for the kids because I’m counting on it earning me points, love, appreciation, affection, cooperation, understanding or anything else. I can do stuff for the kids because I want to do it, but I [...]

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By Jill Davis Doughtie
When I first got involved in helping the kids navigate through their daily lives, there were so many friends and appointments and lessons that it was hard for me to remember where they all were, or even to keep track of all of the addresses. So, I created a private Google map. [...]

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When I was little and I got sick, my mom would tuck me into my bed or under blankets on the couch and give me a bell so I could ring for her when I needed her. My mom’s bell had a stained glass handle and lived on the bookcase when everyone was healthy. Mine [...]

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No One’s the Bitch is a blog by a mom-stepmom team about building happy mom-stepmom realtionships. Jen (the mom) and Carol (the stepmom) are close friends now, but they didn’t start out that way at all. Jen has knocked the ball out of the park with two must-read posts in the last few days:

How to [...]

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I keep this list of human needs posted on the refrigerator to help myself articulate what’s going on with me. Here are the things I find myself wanting deeply around holiday times:

acceptance
affection
appreciation
belonging
inclusion
to be seen
to be known
to be understood
presence
safety
choice
freedom
space

It’s not that it’s anyone’s (or any group of people’s) job to intuit what I want or to [...]

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