From the category archives:

Family Issues

Cause and Effect

by Carolyn on September 29, 2009

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My parents met, got married and had me. I’m alive today and living a richer life than I ever could have imagined.  I’ll always be grateful to them for giving me my greatest gift – life. My parents got divorced. And I still feel a little sad, angry and hurt by that.  I sometimes wonder [...]

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The rules of engagment

by Carolyn on August 25, 2009

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The good old fashioned argument To fight or not to fight?  That is the question.  But don’t rush to answer because I’m adding another element.  To fight or not to fight….in front of your kids?  Yes?  Or would you go with no? There seems to be two camps on the issue.  The ‘no way’ camp [...]

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The systems of family

by Carolyn on July 25, 2009

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Every family has a system.  A set of rules and expectations with regards to communicating and interacting with each other.  And every family is different.  There are general types of family systems but families are like snowflakes.  Each one varying slightly or even greatly from another.  And if that weren’t specific enough, each pair of [...]

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Memories

by Carolyn on July 10, 2009

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We all have our memories.  Some are good and some are bad.  A million little clips and images that when put together spell out our lives.  What is your very best memory?  Ok, that one can be difficult.  What is your very best memory of your parents? I think my parents might be surprised about [...]

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House hopping

by Carolyn on July 6, 2009

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Adolescent years are a challenge.  For everyone involved.  Young individuals searching, yearning for their  independence though not yet prepared to manage the cost/benefit scales of life.  Crazed parents hurt by their child’s sudden rebuttals and scared by both their loss of control and their child’s inability to make consistent good choices.  These years are typically [...]

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The ‘step’ factor

by Carolyn on July 4, 2009

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Oh what a difficult road lies ahead for the person taking on the role of ‘step parent’.  It is a struggle.  An uphill battle. The experts give some insight on how to make it a little less painful but all agree that there will be mountainous bumps along the way.  They also list a number [...]

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What a mess

by Carolyn on July 1, 2009

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How do you protect your children from your parents?  The question seems ridiculous even as I write it.  Because once you have children a transition occurs.  Your parents stop being just your parents and become your children’s grandparents.  And what do we envision when we think of grandparents?  For most of us, we think of [...]

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Co-parenting? I don’t think so

by Carolyn on June 29, 2009

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Co-parenting is all the rage for divorced parents.  With Bruce Willis and Demi Moore as it’s poster children; it calls for parents to work together in the same manner they would had they remained married with respect to their parenting roles.  And as difficult as it must be, the experts are unanimous in their agreement [...]

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