Parents Talk: Should a Step-Parent Discipline the Kids?

Parents Talk is a weekly feature on Patch where we reach out to those moms, dads, grandparents, etc. looking for a resources and information (or maybe just a sounding board) to talk about parenting. We invite and encourage you to tell your friends about Parents Talk, too. After all, we can’t build a community without your help. We hope that you will contribute your ideas, questions, anecdotes and advice to other parents in your hometown.

In the coming months, we will also be organizing a Parents Council that will help answer some of your questions and offer practical, real world solutions. The council will consist of experts (i.e. other parents) who can speak firsthand about everything from potty training to the best pediatricians to surviving driver’s education with a teenager.

We hope you’ll use Parents Talk as one of the many resources you can find for raising happy, healthy children.

Please take a moment to weigh in with your comments below.

This week's discussion topic:

My boyfriend and I recently got engaged. He has two daughters, ages 6 and 4, from his first marriage. Since we've been together, I've spent a significant amount of time with the kids and their respect for me as a parental figure in their lives is growing, but I'm questioning how much of a parental role I should be playing when it comes to discipline. More often than not, I step back and let their dad deliver the discipline, mainly because they are not my children, but there are other times I feel I should be stepping up and administering the talking-tos, timeouts, etc. so they learn I'm serious about my role as a step-parent. Ultimately, I'm wondering what the best way is to approach my new role as soon-to-be stepmom when it comes to disciplining the kids.