Interesting how they closed commenting on this.

I have a hard time taking the author seriously. Comparing people to geese, blocks and onions was just too silly. That and telling the wife to shove off at a "family" dinner. Strange.

I don't think its necessary really for them to blend. All of the children were adult children when this couple got together.

All adult children of divorced parents will react differently to their parents remarrying, however, the adult children really have nothing to do with the couple's marriage.

The article doesn't mention that the husband's kids excluded their stepmother. They did invite her along with her husband. They just did not include her kids.

I don't think its fair to expect any of them to accept the other kids. The kids may not have gotten along when they were neighbors.

I know if my parents divorced and remarried, I would view their spouses as just that, their spouse. I am a grown woman. I would be respectful to their new spouses, but at this point in my life, I wouldn't exactly look at them as my stepmother or stepfather.

Her feelings were hurt because they didn't include HER kids. The couple did the right thing and divided their time between the two families.

There probably will never be a Kumbaya between the two families, but at least none of the adult children have been disrespectful to the new couple by omitting the other half of the couple.

She is trying to instill HER traditions on her husband's kids.

I don't think they need counseling. I think they just all need to continue to respect each others' places in the new family dynamic.

I actually agree with the answer.