Positional & Relational Authority
Hey stepparents, do you have positional authority or relational authority?
Show Notes
About the Host
About the Guest
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- Find out more at familylife.com/blended
- Check out our blended family resources.
- Listen to the full-length FamilyLife Blended podcast.
- Contact us, email blended@familylife.com
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Ron Deal
Ron L. Deal is one of the most widely read and viewed experts on blended families in the country. He is Director of FamilyLife Blended® for FamilyLife®, founder of Smart Stepfamilies™, and the author and Consulting Editor of the Smart Stepfamily Series of books including the bestselling Building Love Together in Blended Families: The 5 Love Languages® and Becoming Stepfamily Smart (with Dr. Gary Chapman), The Smart Stepfamily: 7 Steps to a Healthy Family, and Preparing to Blend. Ron is a licensed marriage and family therapist, popular conference speaker, and host of the FamilyLife Blended podcast. He and his wife, Nan, have three sons and live in Little Rock, Arkansas. Learn more at FamilyLife.com/blended.
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Ron Deal
Ron L. Deal is one of the most widely read and viewed experts on blended families in the country. He is Director of FamilyLife Blended® for FamilyLife®, founder of Smart Stepfamilies™, and the author and Consulting Editor of the Smart Stepfamily Series of books including the bestselling Building Love Together in Blended Families: The 5 Love Languages® and Becoming Stepfamily Smart (with Dr. Gary Chapman), The Smart Stepfamily: 7 Steps to a Healthy Family, and ...more
Hey stepparents, do you have positional authority or relational authority?
Ron: Hey stepparents, do you have positional authority or relational authority?
Announcer: For FamilyLife Blended®, here’s Ron Deal.
Ron: Positional authority is what empowers a babysitter to tell the kids to pick up their toys. Relational authority is what a parent or grandparent has. They have an emotional bond with the child, so the child obeys out of love and respect for the parent.
Now you stepparents you start with positional authority but you can move towards relational authority over time. While you are getting there, work with the biological parent to decide rules and consequences, but let the biological parent handle the discipline. Look, stepparenting is tough. So work together and play to your strengths.
For FamilyLife Blended I’m Ron Deal.
Announcer: To find out more visit familylifeblended.com.
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