Kat Van Buren

And that to me is where maybe some of the exhaustion comes from of trying to combine the families.

But if you looked at it more like we're mixing.

Yeah.

So what did you learn about introducing your kids through the process of doing it?

And like, yeah, what would tips be?

Well, I think the number one thing that Ben and I both did because he dated and I dated and both of our kids have met our partners at some point.

And we communicated with each other first.

So hopefully if you have a healthy co-parenting relationship, even if you don't, respectfully, I think it's good to...

at least inform the person of what you're going to do.

But again, everybody's situation is a little different.

So someone that might not be the healthiest answer, but for us, it would be weird for the kids to just come home and be like, Hey, I met dad's girlfriend and Ben didn't give me a heads up at all.

So I would say informing your co-parent or about your new partner before introducing them to your children is step one.

If you have a co-parent.

I think once you know that you're in this relationship for the long haul, I think, and you may have an inkling, but I would give it some time.

Everybody's timeline might be a little bit different than that.

But if you're someone who's like a weekend, you're just new, wait.

Like, I don't know if there's a healthy or very specific date.

I do remember reading general guidelines and talking about like the six month mark, but it's all relative because I'm sure that who knows, I maybe did it at the three month mark.

And my ex-boyfriend's kids, I met each of them at, well, I met them, I met his kids before he met mine.

And that's just the way that it worked out.