# data[].attributes.body
This clip showed even more of the conflict between Isabela and the daughter. There was a lot on conflict with the daughter. Isabela tried to resolve some of it but the daughter didn’t want anything to do with it which caused Isabela to lash out.
This also shows the lack of heirchy Isabela is trying to build the relationship with the kids and create a better heiarchy with them but the daughter just walks all over her and won’t accept her as above her in the hierarchy.

# data[].attributes.body
Isabell is trying to exercise some authority which is being blatantly disregarded and disprespected by Anna. No clear hierarchy

Anna is having troubles adjusting to the change and feels resentment towards Isabel because she feels like Isabel is trying to replace her mom and even her dad in some ways. The boundary between them is rigid and full of conflict.

Dad seems to have relatively clear boundary with his kids in that he was able to communicate his feelings and information about the divorce

# data[].attributes.body
This scene was very similar to some of the reactions that my Step father and I shared. Anna seems to be going through a lot and she takes all of her frustrations and anger out on Isabel. It seems that her Dad is only around for the fun activities and pushes most of the responsibilities onto Isabel to be the primary caregiver whenever the children are around.

# data[].attributes.body
There is an obvious conflicted boundary with Isabell and Anna.
Isabell tries to build rapport with the kids by getting a puppy, but Anna does not receive it well.
There is no clear hiearchy between Isabell and the kids.

# data[].attributes.body
In this scene we really see how much Isabel is trying to build report with the children. But the children, especially Anna dosn’t want any part of it. You can tell the Anna has a rigid boundary with Isabel in the way that she treats her, and Isabel has a rigid boundary with her because she dosen’t know how to communicate to her.
I also noticed that the kids look very much up to their father (clear boundary) this is evidence when the boy askes the dad if he could ever fall out of love with them.

# data[].attributes.body
The daughter is pushing back really hard. We see that she tells the girlfriend that she’s allergic to dogs but at the end we see that she’s not, and if she is, she doesn’t care and likes the dog. This tells us that she is being very stubborn and trying to maintain this rigid boundary with the girlfriend, even though she likes the puppy and possibly is starting to see that the girlfriend really does care about having a relationship with them.

# data[].attributes.body
Dad has a clear boundary with his children. Also there is Hierachy shown while he explains his relationship with their mother. The father also reassures the children that it’s impossible to fall out of love with your kids.

Isabel is watching the kids and she is trying every way possible to make sure the kids like her or at least get along with her.

Fight broke out between the daughter and Isabel. Rigid boundaries or also a conflict are still shown. Isabel handles the fight very well. There is also some respect there from Isabel to give the daughter her space.

# data[].attributes.body
Another piece of evidence that Dad isn’t there. He didn’t tell Isabel about Anna’s allergy to dogs. There is more hostility between Isabel and Anna, which further proves that Luke needs to step up to his role as the father and mediator between them.

On the brighter side, there seems to be a clear boundary between the siblings; they have fun together and get along generally pretty well.

At the park, the dad tried to be open, but he could have been more positive about Isabel and defended her instead of reaffirming her insecurities about being with the kids.

# data[].attributes.body
We definitely now know that there aren’t clear lines of communication between the father and the children. Anna mentioned that he is hardly ever around. Anna was trying to re-establish a connection with her father, but almost has to go through Isabel to get to him. The kids never had the reasons for the divorce explained to them. Anna has a very rigid boundary with Isabel, she doesn’t respect her authority.

# data[].attributes.body
- children are scared that their dad will “fall out of love” with them, but have his confidence he won’t
- Isabel isn’t getting off on the best foot with Anna
- Anna feels like she was trying to buy their affection
- Isabel is struggling with treating Anna like a kid instead of a peer

# data[].attributes.body
Dad is trying to explain the reasons behind the divorce to the kids as that he "fell out of love" with the bio mom. The son asks, "can you fall out of love with your kids?" Of course, they are struggling with feelings of being looked over and fear of abandonment by Dad the way he abandoned their mother.

Anna, when Isabel gives the kids a puppy as a surprise, completely rejects the gesture and throws it right back in Isabel's face. She clearly resents the attempt on Isabel's part to try and make any kind of bond with her. Boundaries between Isabel and Anna are of course very rigid, when Isabel tells her that she wants to be treated with respect, Anna replied that she doesn't have to respect her, since she isn't her mother, and that it's her dad's house, not Isabel's. Isabel says that yes it is her house, since she lives there. Anna then tells Isabel to respect her boundaries and get out of her room. It seems that Anna feels that as long as she is hostile to Isabel, that she might give up on trying to form a bond with her.

# data[].attributes.body
There is a clear boundary between the father and the kids. When he was explains the relationship between his ex-wife he does in a manner where he provides enough info that doesn’t  give too many specifics.

The relationship between the daughter and Isabel is further strained because of the disapline that she is trying to implement. It is a conflicted relationship. There is also a myth that if the daughter is mean to the girlfriend then she will leave.

However, Isabel is trying to build their relationship by giving the kids a dog.

# data[].attributes.body
Kitchen scene:

Dad admits that he thinks Isabel can't manage the kids on her own. She reveals her own insecurities about how she knows the kids really dislike her and don't respect her. She feels that being a mother figure is hard for her, since they aren't her bio children. Dad thinks that it's harder for him and his ex wife because they are the bio parents, and that Isabel has it easier because she's never had children. (That's just another way that he is speaking for her like he did for his ex wife in therapy.) Of course, this is painful for Isabel because it is hard for her, she feels like her roles are conflicted and doesn't know how live up to the expectations that Dad has for her as the new mother figure, even though she wants to.

# data[].attributes.body
He brushes off Sarahs concern, the real concern, about being alone with Isabel all weekend.
However, his willingness to talk to Sarah about the hard stuff shows that he does have an actual relationship with the kids
He loves his kids. He jokes with them and plays with them and spends time with them on his day off.

Isabel handles i feel, handles the argument with Sarah (Anna?) very well. When she starts to yell, she stops and backs up. She points to the root of the problem. Isabel communicates that she is not there to replace the wife, but she’s there to try to at least get along with the kids.

Giving the kids a puppy probably wasn’t the best way to start a relationship with the kids, but its showing that she is trying.

Isabel extended the respect to Sarah that she left when asked to

# data[].attributes.body
Isabel pushes to get to know the children better. However I don’t think she realizes that her babysitting and being the authority figure at this point will only make things worse.

# data[].attributes.body
There is a conflicted boundary between the children and the father. The children want a relationship with the father, but he isn't providing it for them.
Isabell is not allowed to have time with the kids to build a relationship and rapport.
There is a conflicted relationship between Isabell and the daughter.
There is conflict in the relationship between the father and Isabell because he does not give her alone time with the kids.

# data[].attributes.body
Well again, the girlfriend is going against what the text book suggests. At this stage in her relationship with the father she should befriend the kids and build a relationship of mutual respect and trust(which she blows by swearing at and being short with the daughter). Seeking to take care of them by herself for the weekend is a worse idea than going with the dad to Pennsylvania with the kids. Which would have been a better environment to strengthen her relationship with the kids.

# data[].attributes.body
The father is seeing his and his ex wife’s side but he is not trying to understand what Isabela is going through. He treats Isabela like a child. He doesn’t have confidence in here and worries about her taking care of his kids.
Their relationship is problematic because he wants her for him but doesn’t trust her with doing other things around the house.

# data[].attributes.body
There seems to be a sense of distrust between Luke and Isabel. Luke seems to think she cannot handle the kids alone. Isabel is upset because she might want to show not only Luke but possibly Jackie just how good of caregiver she can be for their children, she is trying to prove herself in this family.

# data[].attributes.body
Something that I noticed in this scene is how Isabel and Jack have good conflict resolution skills. I say this because instead of them both blowing up and waking away upset, they were able to meet each other in the middle so to speak and work out a solution to their argument. So I would defenlty say there is a clear boundary between the two of them. I also say that there is a very very rigid boundary between isabela the the children.

# data[].attributes.body
There was almost a sense of hierarchy between Luke and Isabel. He told her he’d call the babysitter to help her because he thinks she can’t handle the kids. He doesn’t offer to help her, which further shows the sense of rigid boundaries between him and the kids. It’s very possible this is one  of the reasons he and Jackie divorced.

Isabel wants to form a relationship with the kids, but she needs Luke’s help, because he’s the father. The kids love their father, but if he won’t help, the situation will only get worse. He needs to take on his role as their father and be a mediator between them and Isabel, so they can not only get used to each other, but also form a supportive relationship.

# data[].attributes.body
- clear boundary between girlfriend and dad with good conflict resolution skills
- daughter calls trying to talk to her dad, but he isn’t providing them a chance to come to him with their problems so the kids are forced to call his house so he’ll maybe pick up the phone

# data[].attributes.body
One thing I noticed in this scene was that the father made a comment about his ex-wife in reference to the kids. He said, “She’s just concerned because they are her kids.” Making no claiming statement of “Our kids”, this could show that there is a rigid boundary between the father and the kids. The daughter wants to talk to her father, possibly to try to reestablish a healthy relationship with her father. Meaning that the kids probably don’t even see their father alot when they are with Dad and Isabel.

# data[].attributes.body
These seems to be a conflict between the father and his girlfriend in regards to his kids. He does not seem to think she can take care of his kids by herself. Wants to bring in a baby-sitter. They were able to just talk through their differences which would result in a good clear boundary. Couples argue over things but they were able toresolve things in a good manner. There is a rigid boundary between Isabel and the kids. On the phone the little girl stated “she was her problem.”

# data[].attributes.body
It is referenced again that there is a rigid boundary between the girlfriend and the daughter that the daughter didn’t talk when the girlfriend answered.

# data[].attributes.body
This is the first time we see Isabel and Luke together.
By the end, it was all centered on the kids, and rightfully so. Isabel I struggling with the fact that she feels inadequate and she feels like Luke thinks the same of her. I don’t know if his comment was intended to be a dig or if it was a foot-meet-mouth situation.
If nothing else, they are good at talking through the issues.
There’s is a clear, and good boundary between Luke and Isabel. They seem to have good communications. But I’m hesitant as to Luke. He’s shady.

Isabel needs to make a rapport with the kids. Whether in Pittsburgh or there with Luke as a helper. The fact that Sarah is so unwilling to speak to Isabel shows that there is very unclear boundaries when Isabel is involved.

# data[].attributes.body
- conflict between mom and girlfriend results in disrespect from children
- seemingly educated and refined vs. messy and inexperienced
- children felt like they had to chose so they sided with mom by doing everything in their power
- dad isn’t involved in raising children

# data[].attributes.body
The parents seem to have some unresolved problems.

The children obviously prefer their bio mom and the “step mom” is having trouble asserting her authority, making it very hard for both her and the children.

Children are having a hard time with their dads new girlfriend perhaps because they don’t think she will stick around. I also believe that the father did not allow the children enough time to cope with the divorce before he started dating again.

# data[].attributes.body
There is a conflict between the daughter and the step mom. Surprisingly the conflict does not seem be due to negative words from the mother.
There is a very clear boundary between the mother and the kids. She helps them speak their mind and allows them to know that they can say anything they need to to her.
Their seems to be an issue in the hierarchy of the home. The girlfriend is doing everything with the children yet the dad seems to be not doing anything. Putting the girlfriend as the bad guy.

# data[].attributes.body
There is clear hierarchy between the children and their biological parents. However, there the children do not fully recognize a hierarchy with their Father’s girlfriend. This isn’t helped either by their Biological mother who openly doesn’t respect Isabel in front of the children and the teacher. For example, she offered help when the son didn’t want to go to school, and threw away the lunches made by Isabel. There is a rigid boundary between Isabel and the daughter due to the daughter’s hope that her parents will remarry.

# data[].attributes.headline
I saw the obvious rigid boundary between Isabel and Anna. It is hard to come into a new family as a step parent. Isabel seems to be struggling to keep her work life and home life organized being that she has never been a mother before. There was a lot of dysfunctional behavior going on in the home of the Father Luke and the girlfriend Isabel. When it comes to the actual mother she seems to have a very healthy and balanced routine with her two children Anna and Ben. There seems to be a very clear boundary between and three of them. Ben even behaves a little better for his real mom. 

# data[].attributes.subject
I saw the obvious rigid boundary between Isabel and Anna. It is hard to come into a new family as a step parent. Isabel seems to be struggling to keep her work life and home life organized being that she has never been a mother before. There was a lot of dysfunctional behavior going on in the home of the Father Luke and the girlfriend Isabel. When it comes to the actual mother she seems to have a very healthy and balanced routine with her two children Anna and Ben. There seems to be a very clear boundary between and three of them. Ben even behaves a little better for his real mom. 

# data[].attributes.body
There are unresolved emotions between the parents which has led to tension and conflict.
The children appear to not have had enough time to cope with the loss of the marriage.
The children do not like that their family's external boundaries have changed and a new woman has entered the picture.
The mother is struggling with identity change.
The children are struggling with identity change as well.
The father has become engrossed in work which has led to the external boundary becoming very permeable.
There is a rigid boundary between the daughter and the Isabell.
There are not clear heirachal boundaries between the children and Isabell.

# data[].attributes.body
Scene 1: The kids aren’t taking the moving in of the girlfriend very well, especially the daughter, she wants her parents to get back together (myth). They listen to their mom but wont listen to the girlfriend, this is a hierarchy problem. There is an unclear boundary set of how they should interact with her. The dad is not very involved when being single for awhile he should have already taken on more responsibility than he is showing. They are now trying to get used to two different households. The parents seem to have come to a resolution with their previous marriage even though they bicker a little bit. A lot of restructuring still needs to take place and defining identities within the family system.

Scene 2: Isabel and the dad have a clear boundary but are working out together still how she fits into the family structure with the kids. They had a fight but were able to talk it out and resolve it well.

Scene 3: The dad has a good clear relationship with his kids and a healthy hierarchy. They are able to talk to him about their concerns and he responds to them in a healthy way with good communication. There is lots of conflict between Isabel and Anna, very rigid boundary, they are both rude to each other and don’t handle the situation well or respect each other. Anna lies to Isabel, and maybe feels like she is an obstacle in her way as she is trying to get to her dad.

# data[].attributes.body
There are some issues with hierarchy. The kids have little respect for their dad’s girlfriend and they don’t listen to her demands of getting ready for school.

The father seems to have a lack of involvement in the children’s lives. The girlfriend is the one who got them ready for school. She was also the one who had to pick them up from school.

There also seems to be some unresolved issues between the mother and father that was shown during the school meeting.

It also shows how cohabitation can help cause a dysfunctional system between the members because there wasn’t a smooth transition.

# data[].attributes.body
There appear to be clear boundaries between Jackie and Anna. They’re opening up and talking about the situation, which can benefit both parties.

There is an obvious lack of cohesion between the girlfriend and the kids. Anna doesn’t like her, possibly because she secretly wants her parents to get back together. Another thing with the girlfriend is that while she may still be getting used to having the kids around, she currently has some rigid boundaries. She forgot to wash Anna’s shirt, and “lost” Ben. She needs to work on building trust with the kids so they can establish more clear boundaries and better cohesion.

Another thing is the dynamic between the two women. Jackie the mother obviously is uncomfortable with seeing the girlfriend with the kids. They need to find a way to get along, establish mutual respect and fear boundaries as co-parents.

the hierarchy seems a bit rigid. This can happen with divorce, because the parent who was “left behind” may try to prove themselves by being more friendly and fun-loving (the Disneyland parent). However, Dad is more engrossed with work than with his family. Perhaps this is one of the reasons they divorced in the first place?

I like Taylor’s comment about the dad not letting the kids adjust before dating other women. Fuzzy boundaries due to cohabitation.

# data[].attributes.body
There’s a definite issue in the hierarchy in the children’s lives. They don’t like or respect Isabel.  And biomom fails to help the situation, as she undermines her in little ways. Isabel seems to have not ever formed relationships with Sarah and Jack, its almost like they were just thrown together by dad.
Dad seems to be remarkably oblivious and not a part of his kids lives.
The family system is really in the transition part. The system is searching for the equilibrium and it cant find a way back to what it was before, because the system as itself has definitely hit the threshold.
I think it would be interesting to see them in a few months, once the new normal is established, and once the family identities have been cemented.
Sarah, the little girl, also is shown to have had the unrealistic expectation that her parents would get back together. If nothing else, that is an indicator that her parents haven’t really talked to her about the divorce, and that there’s a lack of communication. There is probably a very rigid boundary around the topic or discussion of divorce in the family’s.

# data[].attributes.body
There are definitely some dysfunctional hierarchy issues going on here. The kids have no respect for their stepmom, and from the first scene it seems like the hierarchy has dad at the top, the kids in the middle, and then the stepmom, who is being manipulated by the children.

It’s unusual to me how uninvolved the father seems to be in his children’s lives, and how he has thrown his girlfriend into this maternal role without really being there as much of a support. Because the children’s relationship with the father predates the girlfriend’s, you would think the father and children’s emotional bond would be stronger, but it seems that he is primarily focused on his girlfriend and on his job. Of course there is going to be tension between the children and stepmom, because it doesn’t seem like there was a smooth transition in which she became friendly with the children before becoming a maternal figure; rather, she was quickly expected to care for and be responsible for them, before even forming any sort of emotional bond or sense of trust.

Anna, the daughter, fantasizes and even lies about her parents becoming remarried. It is possible that the father did not provide enough time before dating in order to allow his children to come to terms with and become accustomed to their biological parents’ divorce. It would have been beneficial to become used to a new family system before throwing off the equilibrium even more by introducing a new parental figure.

So many things going on in the phone/kitchen scene. It’s interesting that the father relies so heavily on Isabel for the children’s care while he’s around, yet when he leaves he doesn’t seem to trust her. It’s almost like he is trying to distance her from the kids in that she can help when he’s around, but he’s not trying to promote Isabel and the children’s relationship. Maybe he doesn’t actually see their relationship progressing to marriage, so he doesn’t care if they form familial bonds or not. She’s just there when it’s convenient for him, so maybe he doesn’t intend to integrate her into the family system as an independent member. (This is just what I felt from watching the scene but it was a little unclear.) Either they should all go to Pittsburgh, or the kids should go to their bio mom’s house for the weekend. It’s not healthy for Isabel to have full responsibility over them alone without the father to connect them.

One positive thing is it seems like the kids have a clear boundary with their father. They feel comfortable asking about his relationship with their bio mom, why they aren’t together, and their feelings.

Isabel is obviously desperate to have approval from the children. When she gets a puppy for them, she expects their relationship to strengthen but instead it drives an even bigger wedge in the relationship as it reveals Isabel’s lack of knowledge about Anna (her dog allergy) and sparks conflict between the two of them. Isabel would have benefitted more from simply trying to get to know the kids rather than “bribing

# data[].attributes.body
Well it seems like the parents have joint legal custody over their kids and they go back and forth between them. The father is dating someone which is causing conflict between the children and the girlfriend. There seems to be clear boundaries between the mother and kids, and that the mother and has adapative fairly well to the change.

# data[].attributes.body
The kids listen to their own mother instead of the step mom figure in their life. They do not listen to the step mom. There are some hierarchy issues, it goes the dad or mother, kids then step mom.

The family system is transitioning from being a whole to a single parent household then will end up as a stepmom-dad family system.

There is a hostile environment-Conflict between mother and girlfriend. She does not want another woman taking care of her kids when she’s never been a mother herself.

Looks like dad cares more about his job than his family.

# data[].attributes.body
Beginning scene:

The children of course prefer their own bio mother, and stepmom figure is struggling to assert authority over the kids. They resent her because she doesn't meet the expectations that their bio mother has set for their care, like neglecting the laundry.

Dad and bio mom seem that they haven't worked on their marital problems and Dad hasn't taken the transition to the "new woman"/mom figure/girlfriend slowly. Instead, he admits in family therapy that he has dated several women, but that he has been with Isabel the longest. He also labels his ex wife, speaking for her, saying something along the lines of that "of course she would be hostile/angry at another woman helping raise her kids." Dad so far seems to be distant and not as involved with he kids as he should be.

The natural balance of who disciplines the children/has authority in the hierarchy has been disrupted in respect to the new stepparent figure/role that Isabel has. This is evident in how Anna is angry with her about not having washed her shirt, and Isabel struggling to get Ben to cooperate and get ready to see his bio mom.

# data[].attributes.body
- Hostility between mom and girlfriend
- Children don’t respect girlfriend because they don’t think she’ll stick around
-

# data[].attributes.headline
Stepmom Pt. 1           In this short clip of the video.  We see that the divorce of the parents is having an affect on the children.  We see this by the daughter who told her therapist that her parents were going to get back together, and then move to Switzerland.  This shows that the girl has unrealistic expectations that her parents will get back together again.  Another thing that is affecting the kids is that their father has his girlfriend living with them.  This is hard for the children because their dad is having a more open boundary then what they are used to.  So this also causes conflict in managing boundary tasks. 

# data[].attributes.subject
Stepmom Pt. 1           In this short clip of the video.  We see that the divorce of the parents is having an affect on the children.  We see this by the daughter who told her therapist that her parents were going to get back together, and then move to Switzerland.  This shows that the girl has unrealistic expectations that her parents will get back together again.  Another thing that is affecting the kids is that their father has his girlfriend living with them.  This is hard for the children because their dad is having a more open boundary then what they are used to.  So this also causes conflict in managing boundary tasks. 