On a daily basis, I bought into a common myth … that by giving our grieving stepfamily a little time we would start to gel… I waited years for this miraculous transformation and then realized it was me who had to change.
In Stepparenting the Grieving Child, Diane Ingram Fromme shares the assumptions and presumptions that commonly occur in stepfamilies. Diane faced the challenges any new stepparent to grieving children experiences, including helplessness to know how to build relationships, awkwardness around memorializing the lost parent, and insecurity—wanting to be more comfortable in her own home and skin. Diane explains why merely voicing her concerns as a stepmom—though vital—was not enough to move forward with her stepfamily. Instead, she advocates a process to learn and grow with one’s grieving family.
Diane’s straightforward approach will help you:
- Gain a more relaxed mindset toward stepparenting through grief
- Validate when to let the natural parent take the lead
- Consider how to be part of the team who helps one’s stepchildren grieve and grow
With personal examples, insights from other stepfamilies, and knowledge gained through experience and research, Stepparenting the Grieving Child provides information, hope, and inspiration to anyone who supports grieving children.
Author: Diane Ingram Fromme
Publication Date: September 17, 2017
Available at:
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Diane Ingram Fromme
A native New Yorker, Diane Ingram Fromme now writes from her cozy home in Colorado where she lives with her husband and a spunky canine. To learn more about Diane, including how to book her for speaking engagements or your next group event, be sure to visit her website at www.DianeIngramFromme.com. There you will also find samples from her other published works to date.
What Our Readers Are Saying…
“All stepfamilies are preceded by loss, but not all loss is the same. Stepparenting a child whose parent has died has unique challenges and needs a unique roadmap, which Stepparenting the Grieving Child provides. Honest, revealing, and compassionately written, this book offers practical insights to support both grieving children and the stepparent who is striving to find their place in the child’s life. Diane Ingram Fromme shares intimately from her own experience and others’ while integrating research-based insights to create a user-friendly roadmap you can follow.”
—Ron L. Deal, Bestselling Author of The Smart Stepfamily and The Smart Stepmom
“If you are the stepparent of any child, one grieving a parent’s death or the loss of his or her original family, I urge you to gift yourself with Stepparenting the Grieving Child. With wisdom born of experience, insight, and education, Diane Ingram Fromme has written an engaging, encouraging, hopeful, and helpful book, which is easy on both the eyes and heart of the reader. Reading it uplifted me and brought understanding and solace that, as a stepmom of forty-two years, I was surprised I still needed.”
—Sue Patton Thoele, Author of The Courage to Be a Stepmom
“New stepparents of grieving children face a perfect storm—the effects of trauma from a parent’s death coupled with new family relationships. The landmines are many, the sources of relevant wisdom few. Stepparenting the Grieving Child offers guidance on a topic that’s barely touched upon elsewhere, which is why this book is so important, both for the children, who suffer the most, and for the adults, who hope to ‘do it right.’”
—Mary Ann Emswiler, Coauthor of Guiding your Child through Grief, Founder of the Symposium on Children’s Grief
Foreword Clarion Review
Foreword Clarion Review“Drawing from the author’s personal experiences, this is an excellent, essential guide for stepparents of grieving children.
“Diane Ingram Fromme’s Stepparenting the Grieving Child offers helpful guidance to stepparents, guardians, and professionals who work with children who are mourning the loss of a parent.”
“Chapters begin with pivotal moments from Fromme’s stepparenting journey that serve as introductions to specific topics—from stepparenting mindsets, to dealing with feelings of jealousy or rejection, to honoring deceased parents and acknowledging them as part of the family. Each chapter ends with questions to consider and listings of the main topics covered. At the end of the book is a resource guide that includes books, websites, and organizations for grief, suicide prevention, and the National Stepfamily Resource Center.”
“Written with clarity and in an agreeable voice, Stepparenting the Grieving Child is an essential guide full of excellent parenting strategies for stepparents, parents, and caregivers.”
BlueInk Review
BlueInk ReviewFromme provides wide-ranging insights and strategies…
“Among the many challenges stepparents face, one of the most difficult involves caring for stepchildren after the death of a birth parent. As a new stepmother to two children who lost their mother to cancer, the author was dismayed that even with her best efforts, her new stepfamily “didn’t gel like magic.” Now, using her decades of stepparenting experience, plus anecdotes from other stepfamilies, including readers of her blog (www.dianeingramfromme.com), Fromme provides wide ranging insights and strategies for those faced with the challenges of blended—and grieving—families like her own.”
“Fromme isn’t a mental health professional, but she has endured in the school of hard knocks. Her wealth of practical suggestions can provide support and comfort to stepparents, surviving parents, other family members, and teachers coping with a child’s grief when a parent has died.”
On a daily basis, I bought into a common myth … that by giving our grieving stepfamily a little time we would start to gel… I waited years for this miraculous transformation and then realized it was me who had to change.
In Stepparenting the Grieving Child, Diane Ingram Fromme shares the assumptions and presumptions that commonly occur in stepfamilies. Diane faced the challenges any new stepparent to grieving children experiences, including helplessness to know how to build relationships, awkwardness around memorializing the lost parent, and insecurity—wanting to be more comfortable in her own home and skin. Diane explains why merely voicing her concerns as a stepmom—though vital—was not enough to move forward with her stepfamily. Instead, she advocates a process to learn and grow with one’s grieving family.
Diane’s straightforward approach will help you:
- Gain a more relaxed mindset toward stepparenting through grief
- Validate when to let the natural parent take the lead
- Consider how to be part of the team who helps one’s stepchildren grieve and grow
With personal examples, insights from other stepfamilies, and knowledge gained through experience and research, Stepparenting the Grieving Child provides information, hope, and inspiration to anyone who supports grieving children.
Author: Diane Ingram Fromme
Publication Date: September 17, 2017
Available at:
| | | |
| | | |
Diane Ingram Fromme
A native New Yorker, Diane Ingram Fromme now writes from her cozy home in Colorado where she lives with her husband and a spunky canine. To learn more about Diane, including how to book her for speaking engagements or your next group event, be sure to visit her website at www.DianeIngramFromme.com. There you will also find samples from her other published works to date.
What Our Readers Are Saying…
“All stepfamilies are preceded by loss, but not all loss is the same. Stepparenting a child whose parent has died has unique challenges and needs a unique roadmap, which Stepparenting the Grieving Child provides. Honest, revealing, and compassionately written, this book offers practical insights to support both grieving children and the stepparent who is striving to find their place in the child’s life. Diane Ingram Fromme shares intimately from her own experience and others’ while integrating research-based insights to create a user-friendly roadmap you can follow.”
—Ron L. Deal, Bestselling Author of The Smart Stepfamily and The Smart Stepmom
“If you are the stepparent of any child, one grieving a parent’s death or the loss of his or her original family, I urge you to gift yourself with Stepparenting the Grieving Child. With wisdom born of experience, insight, and education, Diane Ingram Fromme has written an engaging, encouraging, hopeful, and helpful book, which is easy on both the eyes and heart of the reader. Reading it uplifted me and brought understanding and solace that, as a stepmom of forty-two years, I was surprised I still needed.”
—Sue Patton Thoele, Author of The Courage to Be a Stepmom
“New stepparents of grieving children face a perfect storm—the effects of trauma from a parent’s death coupled with new family relationships. The landmines are many, the sources of relevant wisdom few. Stepparenting the Grieving Child offers guidance on a topic that’s barely touched upon elsewhere, which is why this book is so important, both for the children, who suffer the most, and for the adults, who hope to ‘do it right.’”
—Mary Ann Emswiler, Coauthor of Guiding your Child through Grief, Founder of the Symposium on Children’s Grief
Foreword Clarion Review
Drawing from the author’s personal experiences, this is an excellent, essential guide for stepparents of grieving children.
Diane Ingram Fromme’s Stepparenting the Grieving Child offers helpful guidance to stepparents, guardians, and professionals who work with children who are mourning the loss of a parent…
Chapters begin with pivotal moments from Fromme’s stepparenting journey that serve as introductions to specific topics—from stepparenting mindsets, to dealing with feelings of jealousy or rejection, to honoring deceased parents and acknowledging them as part of the family. Each chapter ends with questions to consider and listings of the main topics covered. At the end of the book is a resource guide that includes books, websites, and organizations for grief, suicide prevention, and the National Stepfamily Resource Center.
Written with clarity and in an agreeable voice, Stepparenting the Grieving Child is an essential guide full of excellent parenting strategies for stepparents, parents, and caregivers.
Blue Ink Review
Among the many challenges stepparents face, one of the most difficult involves caring for stepchildren after the death of a birth parent. As a new stepmother to two children who lost their mother to cancer, the author was dismayed that even with her best efforts, her new stepfamily “didn’t gel like magic.” Now, using her decades of stepparenting experience, plus anecdotes from other stepfamilies, including readers of her blog (www.dianeingramfromme.com), Fromme provides wide ranging insights and strategies for those faced with the challenges of blended—and grieving—families like her own.
Fromme isn’t a mental health professional, but she has endured in the school of hard knocks. Her wealth of practical suggestions can provide support and comfort to stepparents, surviving parents, other family members, and teachers coping with a child’s grief when a parent has died.