Every time I read about LN's baby-on-the-way and the rest of you talk about what a joy it is to have children, I wonder if I'm missing out on life. I'm happy with my life, and I love my step kids as much as possible without having that father/child bond.

But I've come to realize that being a step parent is nearly impossible because, when it comes to disciplining the children, the issue of "You're not my dad" or "They're not your kids, they're mine" comes up. And I'm not talking about spanking or any kind of physical discipline. What I mean is talking to them about what they did wrong, or yelling at them because they did something like nearly burn the house down. If I was their biological father I wouldn't get those type of responses.

However, if I take the approach of standing back and letting their Mom handle business I get the lecture about not doing enough to help.

Don't even get me started about celebrating Father's Day.