Dr. Ciara Kelly

Love us.

Accept us.

We are desperate.

And there'll be more from us next week.

Myself, Dr. Ciara Kelly.

Well, that trope of the evil stepmother goes back as far as Grimm's fairy tales and probably beyond.

So I think there is, you know, Cinderella.

Like all of those old classic sort of tales involve children of a dad usually with a new mum coming in who treats them badly.

horrendously and that is a kind of a standard trope.

And there's so many interpersonal dynamics there, isn't it?

First of all, there's the couple who've now gotten together.

They're the new link.

But then there's the step-parent role for both them to each other's children.

There's the step-siblings, if you like.

There's the kids from this family and the kids from this family.

It's not necessarily the Brady Bunch.

They may not all like each other.

They may have issues there.

And then, of course, there's ex-partners that are still in the mix to the extent that they are still co-parenting this kind of cross-pollinated family.

Yes, what you're saying there is the new partner sees their partner's children as rivals.