We live the 'no step' stepfamily. We try to run our household as 1 family with NO steps. The kids are lucky to have two sets of parents that love them equally.

So do you have step kids but you dont' say they are you call them your kids? I'd love to call my two step kids my own kids but their mother made it clear that they were just my step kids and that I was not their mother and never will be. I know I am not their mother but they are my kids to they came with my husband and they are my own. Just agravating soemtimes.

If I were to refer to him as my son around his mother, she would be upset - so I don't.

We live in different states. He lives with my husband and me, along with my daughter. We are careful to ensure that both children are treated equally by both of us.

I was thinking more on the lines of distiction between being a child and being a stepchild. They are both my children. I just happened to give birth to one of them. Does that make sense?

I think that some families get caught up in the step thing and it detracts from relationships in the family - extended family included (especially). We have made it clear that WE have 2 children, not 1 with the extended families on both sides. We don't want either of the kids to feel 'left out' because they are not 'blood related'. They ARE brother and sister.

When you define it that way then I would say yes we have a no step family or at the least we are working toward one. Our family is relatively new but we try to treat all the children equally.

Yeah when you explained it clearer I would say we have no Step kids. But around the mother yes I am their step mom and so forth.

Well, I don't have any stepchildren, but I was one, twice over. And I have two step-sisters.

My stepmom didn't have any kids of her own when she married my dad, so it was a tough transition to go from that into having a 7-year-old and a 9-year-old. It was turbulent for a while, but we ended up growing pretty close. (Of course, now my dad is being an idiot and has moved out so he can screw around, but that's another story).

As far as being in a household, my stepdad always treated me like an equal in the house. He didn't do as much 'parenting' stuff as my mom, probably out of deference to my dad and mom, but he was a great parent nonetheless. Both he and my dad gave me away at my wedding. I never called my stepdad anything but his first name, but I still feel like he was just as much a father figure as my real dad, and they both respect each other in their roles in my life.

For a divorced family, my parents get along exceptionally well - with the exception of my stepsisters' mom. She has been determined to make my stepdad pay for cheating on her with my mom (not that I'm saying it was okay, but there is a time to move on) 20 years ago, so she has poisoned the relationships between my stepdad and his daughters. It's really sad - they are all three very bitter people. My dad, on the other hand, decided to just move on with his life, and my brother and I benefited a lot from their amicable split.

Yes, I have steps, and we are not one family. I actually don't really like my step siblings, LOL. My step dad is cool, but I don't call him dad. Him and my mom got married after I was grown and moved out, so I just call him by his name. My step siblings have always lived far away. A couple of them live closer now, but I still don't really like them, they are ungrateful brats. Actualy my oldest step sister now lives the closest in San Diego and has a little girl. My mom is happy though because she finally gets a grandkid :lmao, cuz she knows she ain't getting one anytime soon from her kids (me, my sister or my brother) :P

I am the exact same way with my husbands children as well, Ellen. When people ask how many kids I have I always say 4. They are my kids, I just didn't give birth to them.