Family Holidays: Fun or Disaster?
Q I’m dreading the holidays. My husband, children, and I split the holidays between each of our families. To reduce the stress, I want to go late and leave early. Am I alone in feeling this way or do other people experience added tension during the holidays?...
Creating Meaningful Family Memories
Q My husband and I work long hours. We don’t spend much time with our kids. We have a twelve-year-old son and a daughter who is eight. The kids complain that we don’t attend school activities as often as other parents. To make matters worse, my sister tells me that we...
Is Your Family Overcommitted?
Q My husband and I have three children, ages fifteen, eleven and nine. I’m worried that our kids will get involved in so many school and extracurricular activities that our family will be overcommitted this fall. How can we tell if we’ve created a lifestyle...
Easing Into Changing Schools
Q Our son Dennis, who is 11 years old loves his elementary school. He doesn’t want to switch to middle school this fall. I think he’s worried about losing his friends and having to make new ones in an unfamiliar setting. He is having trouble sleeping and his...
Etiquette When Visiting Grandparents
Q My wife and I and our two children will be visiting my parents next month who live out of state, and we don’t see them often. I want the visit to go well. I want my parents to have a good impression of our kids during and after our time with them. What...
What is Antifragile Parenting?
Q My wife and I are parents of a one-year-old girl and are expecting another child. We want our children to learn how to be courageous and self-reliant. We don’t want to be “helicopter parents”…those who hover over their children and constantly try to smooth...
Loneliness in Kids
Q My 13-year-old son Sam recently told me that he is feeling lonely. Before the isolation of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sam had friends that he interacted with in person every day. Then suddenly their in-person interactions were shut off and gradually he and his...
The Power of Positive Thinking
Q I’m a single mother. My daughter Vivian is a freshman in high school. She doesn’t want to go to school any more. She uses a lot of negative self-talk such as, “I’m stupid. I’m dumb. I just can't do the school work.” She procrastinates doing schoolwork or...
What Can You Expect from Family Counseling?
Q My best friend and her husband are struggling with how to help their daughter, Amber, age 14. Amber is slipping out of the house at night, skipping school, not following rules and possibly doing drugs. I wonder if doing family therapy would help them. What could...
Why Books and Libraries are Still Important
Q We have eight-year-old twin boys who are in the 3rd grade. My husband works in the software technology field and thinks books and the need for dictionaries are obsolete. I disagree and make sure each of the boys has a set of their favorite books. I still read...
How Does Remarriage Affect Kids
Q I’m planning to get remarried in April. I have two children, ages five and nine. My fiancé has a daughter who is 14 years old. I’m wondering what kind of behaviors my children and his child might exhibit before and after the wedding, especially when we all move in...
Help Your Child Nix the Nightmares
Q Our son Matthew is seven years old and has begun to have scary nightmares. He has dreams about being kidnapped and hidden in a closet where no one can find him. How common are nightmares in kids? What causes kids to have nightmares and what can parents do to...
