Step-siblings are children born of two different families who have been joined by marriage, A male step-sibling is a stepbrother and a female is a stepsister. The step-siblings relationship is connected through law and is not a blood relation. Step-siblings are sometimes abbreviated informally as stepsibs.

Culture

In many fairy tales, the central character has a stepmother and the step-siblings serve as an extension of their mother.

Cinderella "Cinderella",; french: link=no, Cendrillon; german: link=no, Aschenputtel) or "The Little Glass Slipper", is a folk tale with thousands of variants throughout the world.Dundes, Alan. Cinderella, a Casebook. Madison, Wis: University of Wisconsi ...

and

Mother Hulda "Frau Holle" ( ; also known as "Mother Holle", "Mother Hulda" or "Old Mother Frost") is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm in ''Children's and Household Tales'' in 1812 (KHM 24). It is of Aarne-Thompson type 480. Frau Holle (als ...

features wicked stepsisters who take after their parents. The story ''

Kate Crackernuts "Kate Crackernuts" (or "Katie Crackernuts") is a Scottish fairy tale collected by Andrew Lang in the Orkney Islands and published in ''Longman's Magazine'' in 1889. Joseph Jacobs edited and republished the tale in his ''English Fairy Tales'' (189 ...

'' serves as a counterexample where the daughter of the evil stepparent is a loving stepsisters. Many

romance novel A romance novel or romantic novel generally refers to a type of genre fiction novel which places its primary focus on the relationship and romantic love between two people, and usually has an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." Pre ...

s feature heroes who are the stepbrother of the heroine. The step-relationship generally stems from a marriage when the hero and heroine are at least in their adolescence. Some family

films A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

and television

sitcoms A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use new ...

feature a blended nuclear family including siblings as the center premise. In many cases, the step-family is large and full of children causing situations such as sibling rivalry, rooming, falling in love, and getting along amongst the children as popular plot-lines. This premise gained traction with the 1968 films '' Yours, Mine and Ours'' and ''

With Six You Get Eggroll ''With Six You Get Eggroll'' is a 1968 American romantic comedy film directed by Howard Morris and starring Doris Day, Brian Keith, Barbara Hershey, George Carlin, and Pat Carroll. It was the first film that was produced by the CBS Television Ne ...

'' and the 1969 launch of the television sitcom ''

The Brady Bunch ''The Brady Bunch'' is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz that aired from September 26, 1969, to March 8, 1974, on ABC. The series revolves around a large blended family with six children. The show aired for five seasons and, after ...

''. Some contemporary family sitcoms have made the blended family sitcom more popular with the TGIF show '' Step by Step'' bringing about other shows such as ''

Aliens in the Family ''Aliens in the Family'' is an American science fantasy sitcom that aired on ABC from March 15 to August 31, 1996, conceived as part of its '' TGIF'' lineup. Premise The show was about single dad Doug Brody (John Bedford Lloyd), who is abducted ...

'', ''

Life with Derek ''Life with Derek'' is a Canadian television teen situation comedy that aired on Family Channel (Canadian TV network), Family Channel (English) and VRAK.TV (French) in Canada and on Disney Channel in the United States. The series premiered on Fam ...

'', ''

Drake & Josh ''Drake & Josh'' is an American teen sitcom created by Dan Schneider for Nickelodeon. The series follows two teenage stepbrothers Drake Parker (Drake Bell) and Josh Nichols (Josh Peck) as they live together despite opposite personalities. The ser ...

'', and the short-lived

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...

family sitcom '' Something So Right''. ''

The Life of Riley ''The Life of Riley'' is an American radio situation comedy series of the 1940s that was adapted into a 1949 feature film, a 1950s television series, and a 1958 comic book. Radio The radio program initially aired on the Blue Network (later kn ...

'' is a 2009 British comedy television series, shown on BBC One & BBC HD. It focuses on the lives of a blended family. ''

Kevin and Kell ''Kevin and Kell'' is a furry comedy webcomic strip by syndicated cartoonist Bill Holbrook. The strip began on September 3, 1995, and is one of the oldest continuously running webcomics. The comic's website states it is "The World's Longest R ...

'' is a comic strip that focuses on a blended family. The

Disney Channel Disney Channel, sometimes known as simply Disney, is an American pay television channel that serves as the flagship property of Disney Branded Television, a unit of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Compan ...

animated series ''

Phineas and Ferb ''Phineas and Ferb'' is an American animated musical-comedy television series created by Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh for Disney Channel and Disney XD. Produced by Disney Television Animation, the series was originally broadcast as a ...

'' also prominently features a blended family, chosen by co-creator

Jeff "Swampy" Marsh Jeff "Swampy" Marsh (; born Jeffrey Kent Dudman; December 9, 1960) is an American animator, writer, director, producer, and voice actor. He is known for several animated television series, most notably as an executive producer and the voice of ...

in part due to its under-use in children's programming, and his personal experiences growing up in such a family.

References

External links

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