Rachel’s Ramblings : Stepmothers: Are they always bad?

One of the greatest fairy tales ever told is of an evil stepmother who made her step child do all the chores in the house as if it was her birthright. Others talk of the one who was so jealous of her step daughter’s beauty that she tried to kill her! These are stories that have been told since time immemorial. The way I see it, stepmothers have been stereotyped as wicked. Maybe some have indeed lived up to that but must we throw them all into the same category? Janette (not real name) a Rwandan student at Kampala International University, says her stepmother is nothing short of an angel. ‘When our father passed away two years ago, she was there for us in every way. And even though he left her in debt she worked hard to keep us in school and is now even paying my tuition at the university.’ ‘I love that woman so much and when I finish school and get a job, I will help her complete her house that she put on hold in order to see us through school,’ she continues. For Janette, things can’t get better but does everyone else who has had a stepmother in their life share her joy? Many times we have read and heard of stories of stepmothers who have done all sorts of bad and unthinkable things. We never really know why they behave that way or what could have happened for things to get that sour. If they are not burning innocent kids they are poisoning or starving them. The question on most people’s lips is if you can’t stand a man with kids that are obviously not yours then its best you wait for one who doesn’t have any. It is that simple. Do not stress yourself with things you just couldn’t be bothered with. On the other hand, speaking for some of the stepmothers, children are not always co-operative. This lady may come with all her good intentions and the kids just try to make her life miserable. They are not willing to have ‘another mom’. They tend to get biased and judge her before they even get to know her, which is truly unfair. At the end of the day, everybody is different and it is wrong to judge them based on the rotten ones. She might not be anything like your mum but that does not make her a bad person. Give her a chance; you might be surprised how fond of her you’ll end up being. As for the rotten ones, no evil goes away unpunished. There’s someone up there watching and when your time comes, lets just say what goes around comes around. That’s the way it is. cjanzi83@yahoo.co.uk