Wondering How Your Kids Are Feeling About the Divorce? Take Them to a Movie and Find Out!

Submitted by: Mark Banschick M.D.
Movies can be a wonderful way to connect to your kids as your family go through a divorce. The reason for this is because of a psychological relief called displacement. Let me explain.
When you directly ask your kids how they feel about the divorce, it’s sometimes difficult for them to explain. [...]

Blended Family Vacations – How to be Successful

Submitted by Shirley Cress Dudley
You and your new spouse/boyfriend are wondering what to do about a vacation… 
Do you have the fantastic idea of taking your newly blended family on a three-week car ride all around the United States?
Uh oh… maybe you haven’t thought this through.                       
Your spouse/boyfriend is asking if maybe we should just take separate [...]

Top Ten Signs You Have A Successful Blended Family

Submitted by Shirley Cress Dudley
1- You and your spouse have clear house rules that apply to all blended family members
Yes, this means that house rules don’t change when you are tired, or your spouse is out of town.  Both biological children and stepchildren all follow the same rules.  It really does help when the parents [...]

Ask The Divorce Coach: The Boyfriend & The Ex

Question:
Dear Shelley:
I’ve been separated since May 2008 and my divorce should be final soon.  I began dating last year and earlier this year met and fell in love with a wonderful man.
We’ve been constant companions ever since.  My soon-to-be-ex has issues with my boyfriend (they have never actually met) and has been interrogating my children [...]

Turning The Kids Against The Ex

Submitted by Shirley Cress Dudley
When parents get divorced, sometimes the divorce is less than amiable.  Parents may carry resentment and anger.  Unfortunately, sometimes those negative thoughts are communicated to our children.
I regularly hear from stepfamilies that have been told by their children that Mom (or Dad) doesn’t love them anymore or that their new [...]

Happy Relationship, Happy Kids?

Submitted by Delaine
Couples need to focus on each other more and their kids less, according to family coach and author David Code.  Not only will their kids be happier and healthier for it, so will their marriages/relationships.  And I’m taking notes:  cause when I was married, I admit I sometimes put being a great parent ahead of being a great [...]

Parental Alienation: “A Uterus, Divorce Papers and Bruises”

Submited by: Cathy
Father’s right activists have been attempting to have Parental Alienation Disorder added to the fifth edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM V), the American Psychiatric Association’s “bible” of diagnoses.
The National Organization for Women learned about the effort and is concerned. They have now sent out an Action Alert [...]

When “Favors” Are Treated Like Demands

Submitted by: Delaine
I’ve seen it happen on too many occasions to count : ex-partners making demands of their former spouses instead of treating them as the ‘favors’ they truly are. Is their attitude in part caused by ignorance of the law and parenting?  Perhaps.  Could their demands, in part, be a control tactic?  That’s possible too; an attitude [...]

Keeping The Empty Chair At The Table Warm

Submitted by Delaine
I’ll admit, the fact that I’m a single mom to three kids with an ex who’s rarely around, has worried and terrified the hell out of me – sometimes to the point of tears or hours of depression.  I’ve felt alone in the corner,  trying desperately to make good parenting decisions, to do what’s [...]

Choices? Or Sacrifices?

Submitted by Delaine
Many months ago,  during a deep conversation with my Good Man – a handsome, young widower who continues to restore my faith in men -  we began talking about ’sacrifices’ and ‘choices.’  Or rather, I was rambling on about how I think women make sacrifices when they become wives and mothers – when he cut me off.  “Do you [...]

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