A family friend who acts as a mother to children whose biological mother has military deployment can become a bonus mom.Įssentially, any woman who takes care of children she did not give birth to is a prime candidate for becoming a bonus mom. The individual does not have to be married to the children’s father to become their bonus mom.įor example, an aunt that decided to take in her orphaned nephews and nieces can become a bonus mom. While stepmoms are the closest comparison to what bonus moms are, anyone can be a bonus mom for various reasons.
These are women who act as mother figures to children who may not have their biological mothers around. Today, bonus moms are defined as women who go above and beyond for children whom they did not give birth to. However, the creation of the term was to bypass the negative connotation that ‘stepmom’ held. Thus, a bonus mom is essentially synonymous with a stepmom. Jann Blackstone ‘mom’ for fear of upsetting her biological mother.Īlternative names were considered, and the family settled on ‘bonus mom.’ The issue was confounded by the fact that Melanie still had her biological mother around. Jann Blackstone, founder of Bonus Families, her daughter Melanie would refuse to call her a stepmom as her friends would immediately assume that there was a strained relationship between them. The problem stems from children not wanting to use the term stepmom.
Perhaps injected into the societal subconscious by fairy tales of protagonists mistreated by their stepparents, the term ‘stepmom’ or ‘stepmother’ carries a negative implication. The need for a substitute word for stepmom comes from the negative connotation of the word. According to them, they came up with the term as a substitute for ‘stepmom.’ The origin of the term is explained by Bonus Families, an organization dedicated to helping separated families cope with co-parenting their children.
However, it is a term that holds dear to many families. This term is not one most people use on a regular basis. If this is your first time encountering the word ‘bonus mom,’ you are not alone.
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