Straight Talk About The Blended Family: Keeping It "100"

By Dr. Duane E. Mangum and Michele D. Mangum

This book was written as a valuable tool to assist the Blended Family in understanding how valuable they are in striving to build a sustainable, cooperative, and compassionate family unit. Dr. Duane and Michele Mangum open up about their real-life experiences in being a part of the Blended Family. They provide step-by-step recommendations to help those in this dynamic family system to achieve better communication, acceptance, and forgiveness of everyone within the family. They also share the necessity of each person's honesty and transparency, which will elevate their harmony and development as a family. As advocates of the Blended Family, being straight-forward in addressing the good, the bad, and the ugly will provide each family to go from just existing to excelling.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Dec 16, 2020
• ISBN: 9781098341893

Book preview

Straight Talk About The Blended Family: Keeping It 100

Dr. Duane E. Mangum and Michele D. Mangum

ISBN (Print Edition): 978-1-09834-188-6

ISBN (eBook Edition): 978-1-09834-189-3

© 2020. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

Contents

Forward

Preface

Acknowledgements

Introduction

What Is A Blended Family?

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

The Preventive Maintenance Plan

Effective Communication

Conflicts And Resolutions

The Power of Forgiveness

Co-Parenting, What Does It Look Like?

What Are Bonus Dad’s & Bonus Mom’s?

Being A Single Mom And Dad

Is Hindsight Really 20/20? – Getting Sound Advice

The Love Shop

Setting Boundaries

The Pivoting Concept

Expanding Your Parental Borders

From Existing To Excelling

About The Authors

Notes And Bible Credits

Forward

It’s so much more than an honor to write this foreword. I’ve known Dr. Mangum for several years now and we hit it off on day one. I had a gig at the Congressional Black Caucus of 2013 or 2014 in Washington, DC. And as I engaged with the group of people around me trying to sell and sign my book Radiate the Brain and Change the Game I noticed a gentleman that I’d never seen before.

He was sharp as a tack with his hand extended, ready to shake mine. I’m thinking, okay, let me get to this brother…who is he, and why is he so patient? I later found out that Dr. Mangum and I had the same publicist (Reba Burrus-Barnes). Although I was working with her for a while longer and I’d heard of him I had never met him until that moment.

He and his wife Michele (take note) with one L I might add are as genuine as they come. They’re straight shooters. They aren’t caught up in hype, status, or their credentials. That’s what I learned to really appreciate about them. Beneath the profession, they are real people. So, if you have a family crisis and you need help ten times out of ten, I’ll give you his number 1 800 Mangum. 

I learned early on that we had many things in common and I guess that not only created a bond, but it enhanced the level of respect. Many professionals maintain one relationship with you…you pay for their service, they smile at you and that’s it. Doc as I like to call him, he and I have grown to become friends.

When I think about his expertise, I’m proud to not only recommend him, but I’m proud to know him. I’ve seen him on talk shows, in conferences, and I’ve listened to him speak about solutions and outcomes and I promise you that Dr. Dee is the real deal. He and his wife are perfect for this area of focus, and they are the solution to the Blended Family crisis!

Just look at the table of contents in this book, not to mention his other books. It gets straight to the heart of the matter. It draws you in because it provides the answers to what you are looking for. You will enjoy this read, but most importantly do what they suggest to get a handle on the dynamics in your family and other families that need this insight!

Sir Charles Cary, Professional Speaker, Trainer & Author of 

The Amazon Best Seller, Courage Facing Mortality…cancer wasn’t my only Obstacle & The Radiate the Brain Book Series!

Preface

In writing this book, the goal was to share some real-life scenarios of the blended family and the direct conflicts and complexities that it faces in trying to mesh. It’s no doubt that every blended family has its own story, but from my experience as a third-generation blended family member, who experienced a difficult divorce, but was granted the privilege to remarry and be blessed to love again. This book also opens the door for all of those individuals and families to see the value of being honest about how they feel upfront, instead of allowing the hurt, un-forgiveness, and pain to perpetuate ill-feelings that will make the adults and children of this family system causalities versus champions. I am also very candid about my fear of the thought of marrying someone with a child or children, but I’m thankful for the counseling I received that allowed me to overcome that fear, which could have given me a mindset to just exist or be stuck in what caused my previous marriage to fail, without allowing myself to excel in my current marriage. My wife Michele, as a first-time author, share’s her experience in this book about how important it is for the blended family parents to set boundaries.

Acknowledgements

First, I want to acknowledge the Lord for again providing me the courage, strength, love, and focus to write this book from a real-life perspective that challenges me on so many levels. Second, I am grateful to my wife Michele, who consented to Co-Author this book with me and shares her invaluable experience as a single mother and now a bonus mother to my two children. For that I am grateful. Third, We want to salute all the blended families that continue to strive to ensure that their families be a positive, significant example of sharing the tough times that they have faced, but have been resilient in seeking professional help to ensure that the negative and harmful stigma of being a part of a blended family in the 21st Century are not true and permanent. We would also like to express our sincere appreciation to our Graphic Designer, Tiffanie Pulley of Tapdesignz for her phenomenal work on this project. Finally, We are appreciative for all the ones that will read this book and get an honest perspective that Trouble Don’t Last Always and that they have an incredible opportunity to be the model blended family that is the example to empower others in this family system to go from just Existing To Excelling.

Introduction

The 21st Century family structure or makeup has taken on a new characteristic, as it pertains to the nuclear family of the 19th and 20th centuries. In those centuries, the nuclear family makeup mainly comprised of a mother, father, and two or maybe three children that came from the same parents. However, in the 21st Century the blended family, which was once considered a phenomenon, has become the new family norm. Here are some statistics that help support the transition from being a phenomenon. According to the PEW research, 2010 stated it; blended