Ok - I was in a nuclear family until age 13 when my disabled father was shipped off to a Cheshire Home (we couldn't look after him any more at home as he required lots of nursing). Two years later he died. I was 15, my sister was 13. Mum had a nervous breakdown and I got left to cope.

At age 20 I married my OH and we had 4 kids. When my youngest was about 5, mum remarried a man 25 years her senior, so I gained a step parent, even though I wasn't living with them - he is now in an old peoples home with senile dementia.

One of my kids became a single mother in April 07 and due to her mental health illnesses, OH and I have had to take over full time care of the baby. So we have 3 of our kids living at home, and my DD's baby.

Also last year, I found out that I have a half sister that I knew nothing about who is 2 years older than me. But boy, she is my double. She moved to Cyprus 2 years ago, but before that she lived only 15 miles from me, and we didn't know about each other.

Families certainly are becoming more diverse.
KS x

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Kentish Spitfire
Moderator, Student Services
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"It's better to be thought a fool - rather than proved a fool!"