Sounds like you've got a great start and great ideas to boot.
I was the oddball as a kid... Mom and Dad both remarried and both had a boy and a girl... and then there was me... and I was reminded of that quite often. Me and my Bros were okay, we worked out our differences (NOT in ladylike fashion, but then I'm a tomboy) My nearest Sis (Mom's, the one there are topics about) was told at the ripe old age of 5 that I wasn't her "real sister" and it just went downhill from there. My youngest Sis (Dad's) 10 years younger, well by the time she came I was pretty well afraid to let anyone in... and only seeing her 1-3 weeks in the summer, never really bonded. Until Sis was told that she loved me to bits, drove me a little nuts actually, but once that gauntlet was thrown down... scary, very scary. So, only advice I can offer on that one is to try not to point out the differences, not that you would, but you know do unto your steps as you do unto yours and get BF to do the same. Treat them equally on all levels and they'll learn to treat each other that way too. It's a theory anyways. *shrug*
Chores were all the same at Dad's, manners, punishments, etc all the same. But in our household it wasn't. I had chores, no one else did, and that was that. Which as a kid I really resented. So your idea about equal chore time really gets a thumbs up from me. Goes back to my one suggestion.
Good luck, hopefully you'll bumble along and before you know it find everyone smiling in the group photos.
I was the oddball as a kid... Mom and Dad both remarried and both had a boy and a girl... and then there was me... and I was reminded of that quite often. Me and my Bros were okay, we worked out our differences (NOT in ladylike fashion, but then I'm a tomboy) My nearest Sis (Mom's, the one there are topics about) was told at the ripe old age of 5 that I wasn't her "real sister" and it just went downhill from there. My youngest Sis (Dad's) 10 years younger, well by the time she came I was pretty well afraid to let anyone in... and only seeing her 1-3 weeks in the summer, never really bonded. Until Sis was told that she loved me to bits, drove me a little nuts actually, but once that gauntlet was thrown down... scary, very scary. So, only advice I can offer on that one is to try not to point out the differences, not that you would, but you know do unto your steps as you do unto yours and get BF to do the same. Treat them equally on all levels and they'll learn to treat each other that way too. It's a theory anyways. *shrug*
Chores were all the same at Dad's, manners, punishments, etc all the same. But in our household it wasn't. I had chores, no one else did, and that was that. Which as a kid I really resented. So your idea about equal chore time really gets a thumbs up from me. Goes back to my one suggestion.
Good luck, hopefully you'll bumble along and before you know it find everyone smiling in the group photos.
