rom the Civil War up to the turn of the Century (Pasley 10). After the Second World War, the number of divorced men began to outnumber widowers, and by the early nineteen eighties there were 9.2 million divorced and remarried couples in America (Pasley, 11). Today, the divorce rate is reaching new heights, and the fallout is easy to see: “Each child in a classroom half full of children of divorce cries out, Why me?” (Wallerstein, 28)Stereotypes of the stepfamily are having increasingly destructive impact on the popular yet misunderstood remarriages. Traditionally, many people in society tend to associate the term “stepmother” or stepsister with the unfair treatment meted out to Cinderella of the fairy tales. “Interestingly, though the stereotype of the ‘wicked stepmother’ may be more widely known, it is the term ‘stepchild’ that is consistently used to represent a negative experience or situation” (Pasley, 20). Fairy tale stereotypes of the wicked stepmother only make a difficult role seem impossible. This myth, combines with the social expectations that women are more nurturing and effective with children, sets the stage for mothers to fail.Stepmothers may jump in too fast, especially those with no kids of their own. A stepmother may overhelm or scare stepchildren with the attention she gives them. She may refrain from enforcing family rules and discipline in fear of appearing too harsh. The following might be a plausible explanation of the horrible treatment of Cinderella by her stepmother or the alienation that Cinderella feels from her stepmother. In their book Stepfamilies: Myths and Realities (Secaucus, New Jersey: Citadel Press, 1984), John and Emily Fisher state that stepmothers have the most difficulty building a relationship with stepdaughters. There is generally less affection, less respect, and less acceptance in this relationship than in other stepfamily relationsh...
