Stepfamilies

Xander's been asking a lot about stepfamilies lately. Amelia Jayne got "Sofia the First" for Easter and we watched it for the first time the other day. If you don't know the story, Sofia's mother marries the king which makes Sofia a princess. She gains a stepfather, stepbrother and stepsister. And in turn, she becomes a stepsister and her mother, a stepmother. Anyway, the mother mentions how often stepmothers are portrayed as mean and bad, but that she wants to change that image. Xander asked me about Cinderella and her stepmother and stepsisters and we talked about how they were mean to Cinderella (he's seen the movie a couple of times, so he's familiar with that story).
There were many questions asked after that. I talked to Xander about how I have a stepmom, stepdad, stepbrother and stepsister. We talked about how much we love them and about how special they are. I told him that stepfamilies don't have to be bad. We talked about how Daddy doesn't have any step-parents or step-siblings and that not every family does.
It was an interesting conversation. I know the questions are just going to continue getting more and more complicated. For my black-and-white thinker, some things just don't make sense. I try to show him other perspectives or give him information on things that have gray areas. It's tricky, man.
It's funny to me, though, because even though he's curious he tends to be satisfied with basic information. He doesn't really delve much deeper than the surface. I'm thankful for that because I'm pretty sure his sister is going to want to know every little detail...

So in regards to stepfamilies, I love mine. I'm thankful for such special people that I never would have known if it weren't for hard circumstances. I count them as "extra blessings" in my family, which means more people to love. :)