"The Significant Other" and Stepfamilies
When the judge's signature dries on a decree of dissolution, a parent loses the right to complain about future relationships that the other parent may choose to enter. The presence of a significant other in the other parent's life is a reality that courts will rarely restrict. The significant other is a part of your child's life, like it or not.

Fears parents have about a significant other:

1. this new person will try to replace me as
parent
2. this new person will undermine my influence
over our child
3. this new person will try to intervene and
control me
4. this new person will take over the
responsibilities of the other parent and
interfere in our child's relationship with
that parent
5. this new person will preoccupy the other
parent so that they do not fulfill their
obligations to our child
6. our child will like this new person better
than me

A futile response to these fears is to get into competition or confrontation with the significant other. The formation of new relationships is a complicated and vulnerable time for all family members. A lot of conflicting loyalties are jockeying for position. The only one who may not recover from hostilities between waring households is your child!