Have you ever wondered what the word “step-parent” actually means?
According to Burggraff Tash Levy, an Arizona family law firm, nearly half of all marriages will end in divorce.
These marriages last for on average less than eight years before signing the paperwork.
However, the bright side is that 80 percent of people who do get divorced will find love again and remarry according to the law firm, meaning they will likely become the step-parent to their new spouse’s children.
The word “step-parent” has been used for over a thousand years, but people are now surprised to learn what the word actually means.
READ MORE: ‘I rejected a cute dad after discovering his children’s cringy names’
Bonus Families is an organisation dedicated to helping families blend together after remarriage, and it has explained what the word “stepparent” actually means.
On their website, Bonus Families have explained that the prefix “step” is derived from the Old English word stepcild which means “orphan”.
In the past, divorce was not legal and so the only way someone could remarry was if their spouse had passed away, meaning that their new partner would be raising a child who had lost a parent.
Bonus Families added that before the 800s, the word stepfather or mother meant “one who becomes a father/mother to an orphan” and a stepson or stepdaughter meant “an orphan who becomes a son/daughter by the remarriage of a parent”.
As divorce has become more normalised, to word now has also evolved to mean someone who chooses to separate, because “death was not required in order for a stepfamily to be born”.
On Reddit, people have also discussed what the word “step-parent” means to them, and what a stepparent’s relationship should be with their partner’s children.
One upset user on the website’s Stepparents forum said: “‘Step-parent’ is the absolute worst word ever invented…I have none of the rights of a parent and therefore I refuse any of the responsibilities.”
Another user said they believed the word “step-parent” was a “weird term that doesn’t really make sense” like the word “mother-in-law”.
The user added: “My husband’s mom is not my mom any more than I am my [step child’s] parent, but it’s just a word we got used to using.”
Somebody else said: “In my experience, it seems it’s cause the kids try to step all over you. Because you’re not my dad, I’ll do what I want. In the mother’s eyes, they’re little angels.”
However, Bonus Families have been trying to change the word “step-parent” as they said the word can sometimes carry a stigma.
On their website, they said: “Over the years ‘step’ has grown to imply negative things—wicked, evil, certainly not a contributing member of a family.”
Instead, BonusFamilies is asking stepparents to refer to themselves as ‘bonus parents’ instead, as they said the word ‘bonus’ is “is known to be something positive, a reward for a job well done.”
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