'How does your mom do it': Kamala Harris on how she broke ice with her stepchildren

Vice president Kamala Harris addressed the Modern Family situation of her own family in the latest episode of the All The Smoke podcast and explained what it takes to be a step parent. Kamala said since she was a child of divorced parents, she knew what it was to be a child of divorced parents and she was very intentional about forming a very healthy relationship with Ella ad Cole -- the children of Doug Emhoff and his former wife Kerstin Emhoff.
"My parents were divorced when I was 5.

When Doug and I started dating, his parents were married for 60 years. I had to explain to him what it is like to be a child of divorced parents," Kamala said.
The Democrat presidential candidate said it was important for her to know about Doug and her relationship before she formed a relationship with Ella and Cole because children form attachment. "I was very intentional about waiting to know that this is a real relationship before I got to know the children. And I love them because they are my children," Kamala said.
Harris said she has a close and respectful relationship with Kerstin as well, which may not be easy but one has to work at it. "We teach our kids how to drive, we sit down with our children with their homework but we should actually role-model how to develop emotion healthy relationships. We have to be very intentional about it."

Kamala said as she got to know Ella and Cole, she was conscious that they don't feel that they were being disloyal to their mother as they became close to her. "I knew that..so I used to ask them 'how does your mother do it...show me'," Kamala said.
"I grew up with the family by blood and this is the family I love. Younger people understand this. It's on you to make a decision on the family you love," Kamala said.