Adoption - Step Parent: Fill & Download for Free

Well, no, not exactly.When I attend my stepdaughter’s singing performances, or hear her sermons, or watch her dancing with joy with friends, or see her interact with kids at camp, I love her more than anyone else in the world.When my adopted son leaps to the rescue or assistance of someone in trouble, or stops to talk with a homeless person and connect at a human level, or joins with me in singing the Lumberjack Song from Monty Python, I love him more than anyone else in the world.When my biological son shows his deep caring for his mother, or coaches a youngster learning basketball, or performs in his a capella group, or calls to discuss a point from law school he thinks will interest me, I love him more than anyone in the world.So I take turns on who I love most.Except when they are all home, and my heart overflows to immeasurable love for them all.

Question: Why didn't The Brady Bunch acknowledge that Mike and Carol were step-parents?As other answers have noted, the show’s intro theme song indicates the status of the family. It was also a minor narrative theme throughout the run of the series, although it was kept mostly in the background of what was supposed to a comedy series.Frankly, the narrative of The Brady Bunch is so bizarre when it’s observed now, 50 years later, that trying to make sense out of what happened will only confuse viewers even further. Let’s review:Mike and Carol get married, but the kids act like they barely know one another (or don’t know one another) even though Mike and Carol have to had known each other for at least a year prior to their nuptials.The series barely discusses either former spouse in more than abstract terms throughout the run. In fact, despite Mike being a widower, he seems to have no emotions toward his late wife and the mother of his three sons.The children almost immediately start using the terms “Mom” and “Dad” toward their new step-parents. They also start acting “familial” toward their new step-parents, even though that’s a process that could take years, or even decades.Neither Mike nor Carol apparently have siblings who visit them (Carol’s “parents” were shown in the pilot episode) who might object to the kids attaching to the new step-parents so quickly. Or in Carol’s case, no one from her former husband’s family objects to her allowing the children to apparently be adopted and losing their father’s name. Remember, this was during a time when retaining one’s family was more commonplace than it is in some places now.The kids apparently have no cousins (NOTE: A “Cousin Oliver” was introduced in the final season in an effort to save the series and accommodate the fact that Mike Lookinland’s Bobby and Susan Olsen’s Cindy were aging out of “cuteness.” Exactly whose child Oliver isn’t clear, although he did “look” similar to Carol) or younger aunts or uncles who they might be friends with despite this occurring in an era where this was quite common. Basically the series throws them all together and everybody “makes nice”.The series itself was absurd, and acknowledging the fact that Mike and Carol were step-parents and that it was a blended family would simply have made a difficult situation even more so, and taxed the limited skills of the series writers. The Brady Bunch only “works” if you don’t spend a lot of time thinking abut things (Like why did Alice live in a small, windowless room behind the kitchen?) and simply try to enjoy it.

If your stepparent divorces your parent and marries someone else, is he or she still your step-parent?Technically, a step-parent is someone who is married to your parent but is not your biological or adopted parent. So technically, no, that person would no longer be your step-parent.But it’s up to you and the other person.My ex-husband’s parents still call me their daughter-in-law, even though we divorced 13 years ago. And I still call them my in-laws. Because family is what you make it.