On Sun, 09 Dec 2007 18:01:52 -0500, Warp wrote:

> Jim Henderson <nos### [at] nospamcom> wrote:
>> On Sun, 09 Dec 2007 06:39:36 -0500, Warp wrote:
> 
>> > andrel <a_l### [at] hotmailcom> wrote:
>> >> I am not an expert (no kids myself and only one grandson)
>> > 
>> >   I have hard time figuring out how that is even possible...
> 
>> Stepkids.
> 
>   Hmm, I still find it a bit paradoxical to say "I have no son/daughter,
> but I have a grandson".

Perhaps from a logical standpoint, but since when are kids logical? ;-)

>   Is the son of a stepchild considered more familial than the
>   stepchild?-)

As a stepparent myself, I can understand what Andrel is saying - because 
my experience was with Ken from the age of 9 (and for Andrel, his 
stepdaughter from the age of 18), we missed out on raising a child from 
an infant.  So there are experiences for us as stepparents that are new 
with a grandchild that aren't for parents who raise a child from infancy.

For my own experience, I told Ken from the very start that I did not see 
my role as one of replacing his father.  The fact that it has turned out 
that way in many respects was not by my design, but rather from his 
father's apparent lack of interest in being involved in Ken's life until 
just recently (it's perhaps cynical of me to say 'now that he's 
financially off the hook', but I find it an interesting coincidence if 
that wasn't by *his* design, especially given that he quit jobs so he 
could get out of paying child support).

Ken coined the term "Assistant Dad" to describe me when he was about 10.  
He calls me "Jim" instead of "Dad", which I'm perfectly fine with; but 
when he has kids, I imagine he'll talk to his kids about me as "Grandpa 
Jim", just as he referred to my father as "Grandpa Ole".

Jim

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