#162: Different Rules at Each House: How to Create a School Routine That Works
Show notes
What should a stepmom do when the rules are completely different at each house?
Different bedtimes, screen limits, homework expectations, chores, and consequences can make school routines especially difficult in blended families. Children may resist the rules, struggle on transition days, or repeatedly remind the stepmom that things are different at their mom’s house.
In this episode of The Stepmom Side Podcast, Alicia explains how blended families can create consistent school routines within their own homes—even when consistency between homes is impossible.
Drawing from her experience with different expectations around devices, sleep, homework, chores, and discipline, Alicia discusses how she became the strict one, overfunctioned, experienced conflict with her partner, and began feeling resentful.
In this episode, Alicia covers:
- Why different household rules do not automatically mean one home is wrong
- How to determine whether a difference is harmful or simply frustrating
- Why children compare rules between households
- Responding when a stepchild says, “But Mom lets me”
- Using “At our house…” without criticizing the other home
- Preventing the stepmom from becoming the strict one...and more!
The two homes do not need identical rules. What matters is creating clear expectations in your own household and ensuring the stepmom is not left to enforce everything alone.
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