How ironic that Mother’s Day, a day meant to celebrate the contributions of mothers to their children’s lives, can be so painful for so many of the 15 million stepmothers who have stepchildren under the age of 18. These women don’t want much from their partners and stepchildren, just a simple acknowledgement of appreciation will do. Because of their stepchildren’s loyalty binds to their biological mothers and their husband’s lack of awareness that this holiday has meaning for them, many don’t get even a card.

This week Rachelle interviews Mary T. Kelly, a marriage and family therapist from Boulder Colorado about various ways stepmothers can cope on Mother’s Day.

For the past decade, Mary has specialized in working with stepmoms, stepcouples and stepfamilies. She has a marriage and family therapy practice in Boulder, Colorado, and offers phone, Skype and Facetime coaching for stepmoms and stepcouples, as well as offering “intensive” one- to two- day coaching/therapy sessions. She created and teaches a workshop for stepcouples, “Married With Baggage: 8 Tips to Thriving in RePartnerships With Children”. Mary writes about stepfamilies for the Huffington Post and Stepmom Magazine.