Published : 2024-01-22

Bonus Parenting - Resources, Challenges and Risks of Stepparenting in a Patchwork Family

Abstract

Parenting in general is a complex and multifaceted process and in a patchwork family it is burdened with additional challenges and risks. In this article we will refer to stepparents as bonus parents, using a term introduced by Jasper Juul. The term bonus parent is a better term for a stepmother or stepfather, because it shows the resources available to stepparents in addition to the challenges and risks of the role. This article focuses on presenting how the bonus parents participating in our research project constructed and interpreted their parenting role. The study was conducted in a qualitative research strategy in an interpretative paradigm, using the individual case method. Based on the analysis of the interviews, four main categories relating to parenting from the perspective of bonus parents were identified: (a) stepping into the role of a bonus parent - perceptions vs. reality; (b) the complexity of the family structure reconstructed in the context of the parental roles performed; (c) parenting in the context of the complex system of parent-child relationships mine, yours, ours; (d) the organization of daily life and leisure activities. The results of the study show that, on the one hand, the surveyed bonus parents face special challenges, but on the other hand, they have all sorts of great interpersonal resources, knowledge, experience, social support network, thanks to which they were able to create strong and happy patchwork families.

Keywords:

patchwork family, reconstructed family, parenting, biological parent, stepparent, bonus parent



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Roczniki Pedagogiczne · ISSN 2080-850X | eISSN 2544-5243 · DOI: 10.18290/rped
© Towarzystwo Naukowe KUL & Katolicki Uniwersytet Lubelski Jana Pawła II


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