Guest Post: Why National Step family Day?

Christy Borgeld, the founder of National Stepfamily Day, has sent in this guest post duscussing the origins of National Stepfamily Day. Christy is doing great work, and I encourage everyoine to check out her website at Nationalstepfamilyday.com:

Why Stepfamily Day
By Christy Borgeld

When I married my husband Jim, 15 years ago, our new family included 6 children from previous marriages and relationships. Having a child together turned our family into a not-so Brady Bunch. Our problems didn’t get solved in 30 minutes and there’s no housekeeper to help out.

Behind my light-heartedness is a concern for stepfamilies everywhere. These unique family units are often a mishmash of grandparents, aunts, uncles, ex-spouses, and children who must learn to deal with stepmothers and stepfathers. Problems such as stepsibling rivalries and their consequential self-esteem, setting new rules and boundaries, and ex-spousal feuds are just a few aspect that strain most stepfamilies.

My mission began. My only involvement with the government was to vote. I had no idea how to get a day proclaimed. I did research on Anna Jarvis, who was the founder of Mother’s Day. I read about her campaign and her passion to have Mother’s Day proclaimed. I contacted my state governor’s office and started asking questions. I soon learned that to get a day proclaimed I had to have each state governor to proclaim the day or a state senator or state representative to have a resolution passed. So I picked a date, wrote up language for the Stepfamily Day proclamation, and went to work.

This year marks Stepfamily Day’s 10th Anniversary. Today Stepfamily Day is celebrated by having a Stepfamily Day picnic. Cities throughout all 50 states celebrate Stepfamily Day with a family picnic.

As the stepmother and stepfather become central figures in the lives of our children, in a time that is very confusing for them, let us remember the positive and important role we play in their lives as role models. I hope Stepfamily Day will encourage and educate these families. To honor those who have made a commitment to creating new family bonds.

Christy Borgeld Founder-National Stepfamily Day-September 16
EST. 1997
http://www.nationalstepfamilyday.com
contact@nationalstepfamilyday.com

National Stepfamily Resource Center
(NSRC) is a division of Auburn University’s Center for Children, Youth, and Families
Stepfamily Expert Council
http://www.stepfamilies.info

The Stepfamily Blog

Readers of this blog are probably familiar with Dawn Miller’s website, TheStepFamilyLife.com. I have linked to Dawn’s site several times. I have found her work there to be insightful, inspiring, and not least, appropriately humorous. As Dawn noted ina  comment to one of my earlier posts, she is back writing, and has a blog, not so coincidentally named The Step Family Life. I would like to take this opportuniy to thank Dawn for reading, and to welcome her to the blogosphere. I encourage everyone interested in issues of concern to blended families to read Dawn’s blog.