Katherine Schwarzenegger is opening up about her journey to changing into a step-parent ― and the way a step-parent coach has helped her alongside the way in which.
The 35-year-old, who has three kids along with her husband, actor Chris Pratt, can also be a step-parent to Pratt’s son, Jack.
Pratt shares 12-year-old Jack along with his ex-wife, Anna Faris.
Schwarzenegger stated throughout a joint podcast look with Pratt that she would advocate a step-parenting coach or therapist to anybody with a blended household, as she retained one “right when we got engaged” and located it “essential.”
“It’s been incredibly helpful for me and also just understanding my role as a step-parent,” the writer stated throughout an look on the “Parenting & You with Dr. Shefali” podcast, launched on Tuesday.
“Step-parenting ― like parenting ― has no, you know, handbook,” she stated.
“Because also I have the benefit of being in both roles, step-parenting is extra confusing because you aren’t a parent, you’re not a nanny, you’re not an assistant,” Schwarzenegger added. “You have responsibilities in all of those areas, but you’re not either of them. It’s a confusing thing to try to navigate where you fit in.”
Wealthy Polk by way of Getty Photos
Whereas she shared that “every dynamic is obviously very different” inside every household, she stated that she, Pratt, Faris and Faris’ companion ― cinematographer Michael Barrett― all co-parent “very well” collectively.
“It works when everybody is willing to put in the work,” Schwarzenegger stated.
Pratt added that being within the place of a step-parent is “a tough job” and also you don’t all the time “end up getting the credit you deserve.”
“If a parent is in there doing the hard work ― in the paint ― of creating structure for a child and holding children accountable, and it’s not a biological child, it can feel thankless. But it’s a really, really important job.”
Gwyneth Paltrow ― who now has a blended household because of her second marriage to Brad Falchuck ― has additionally opened up about the cruel realities of being a step-parent.
“You know, there’s no book on this ― nobody tells us what to do,” she stated throughout a Q&A on her Instagram again in 2023. “And, in fact, all of the existing media around what a stepmother is casts us is like, in this evil, villainous light.”
However there was one key second that modified every thing for Paltrow.
“For myself, the minute I decided ― and fully embodied ― the idea that my stepkids were my kids and I love them just as much, and I gave them the same rules and boundaries and just kind of wholeheartedly went for it, then the easier the whole thing got,” the Oscar winner stated.
