All relationships come with baggage, but sometimes that baggage is living, breathing entities known as his kids. Whether the kids live with your guy on a permanent basis or only visit for spurts of time, there is definitely a right way and wrong way to deal with them.
The Wrong Way
I learned the wrong way to deal with a guy’s kids when my live-in beau in rural New Mexico was suddenly saddled with his 16-year-old son. My guy’s ex-wife termed the son incorrigible then bought the boy a plane ticket to go live with his daddy. My ears perked up at the word incorrigible and I thought to make it work I had to be tough. I then took a slew of steps that resulted in disaster:
-- Laying down the law immediately. Before I pretty much even said hello to the kid, I was reading off a prepared list of house rules he was expected to follow.
-- Giving the kid punishments
-- Making the guy choose between me and his kid. After yet another nasty blowup among the three of us, I finally drew the line and said the guy had to choose between me and his son.
