Like many of the people who come to this site, im a step parent too who has felt almost nothing but stress when my step kids are here. Over the last few years I started to wonder why my DH & I feel like we are so alone with this step parent/step kid stuff. I started to create ideas when I felt the most stressed out instead of wigging out on the family. I have found it to be a great tool & allows me to laugh when all else fails. It really takes a strong person to love a step child with problems & all. It also takes a strong person to not hold it against your mate for him/her not handling a situation the way you would handle it. Call me crazy if you like but here is an idea I can't help but to dream of. Haha maybe its cause I want what I know I can't have!

If there was a way of exchanging your step child for another step child just for a short period of time, how many of you would really do it? Lets say there was in every county a building where you do a background check & leave some details of your family on a application than wait for another family to do the same. Once two family's complete the process, you can exchange a child for another child for a short term basis. Kids, your mate, yourself, & possibly siblings could all get that break that we all at times want or need.