Vivian, her husband: Our son, daughter don’t know how to refer to us

Musician Vivian and her husband Sam West on Friday revealed some of the challenges they have had to face as they put together a blended family.

A blended family, stepfamily or bonus family, is a family where at least one parent has children that are not genetically related to the other spouse or partner. 

Vivian came into the union with a daughter from a previous relationship, and Sam West also started the family with a son from a former relationship.

One of the challenges the couple has had to face, is making their respective children comfortably refer to Vivian as mum and Sam West as dad.

“When they [children] are not sure what to call you, it becomes a challenge,” Sam West told Betty Kyallo on K24’s Up-Close with Betty that aired on Friday, November 15.

“We have had to sit down with them and make them feel comfortable referring to us as dad and mum,” said Vivian.

“One of the key things with blended families, is that you really have to understand who you are. Blended families are not a normal type of family. One, you are trying to connect with your partner as two individuals, then two: you have your respective children to integrate,” said Sam West.

“We have different approaches to parenting that can clash. At times when either of us tells the other: ‘What if you took this approach?’… it ends up hurting the feelings of the person being told to embrace a proposed approach,” Vivian chimed in.

Sam West and Vivian have been together since 2016, and held their traditional wedding in March 2018.