A friend asked me for advice about talking with his lady love about a prenuptial agreement. My first response was that every couple contemplating marriage should talk about money. Financial issues can break a marriage. If one of you thinks it is normal to go on a three-week cruise every year and the other […]

by Guest Author Elinor Robin, Ph.D., with a little editing by Virginia L Colin, Ph.D. 11. Avoid using body language, facial expressions or other subtleties to express negative thoughts and emotions about the other parent. Your child can read you! 12. You can discuss some of your feelings with your children to the extent that

by Guest Author James Parsons and Virginia Colin (mostly James Parsons) Parenting a teen is hard enough, but if you’re a father, the thought of your daughter hitting puberty can be very unsettling. Makeup and clothes might not be you’re forté, but there are plenty of other things she needs advice about. Before you know

  In most cases, I would recommend both, but there are exceptions. In many cases, you can save thousands of dollars by having a mediator help you and your former partner go as far as you can in mediation. The mediator’s area of expertise is facilitating communication – helping both parties say clearly what matters

by Guest Author Elinor Robin, Ph.D. and Virginia L Colin, Ph.D. (mostly Elinor) 1. If you have not done so already, call a truce with your Ex. Divorced parents can succeed at co-parenting. To begin, a ceasefire is necessary. It takes two to make a fight, so there is a good chance that either one

  It is a phrase I hear often. Often the person who says it appears to be angry or scornful. Usually the other person becomes angry or defensive. The phase interferes with constructive communication. “That’s a lie” is received as a close cousin of “You are a liar.” Even people who know they are lying

  Recently I was having dinner with a group of friends who all run their own businesses. Most of them had husbands with jobs and also had children under age 12. This means that their families were dealing with the usual work/family/life balance issues. With normal kids needing normal amounts of parental attention, one job,

    Recently I read a HuffPost article about regrets about being a stay-at-home mom. It was a good article about the long-term economic, social, and psychological costs of leaving a career to stay at home and raise children. (You can find the article here.) The comments after the article come from many different perspectives. Is

by guest author Sharon Zarozny   Ask anyone who’s been through it, and they’ll tell you one of the most gut-wrenching aspects of separation and divorce is figuring out how to co-parent going forward. It can bring out the worst in the best of us. While married, most parents understand the importance of modeling good

  Recently an important member of my family died. So I am reminded of Kübler-Ross’s “stages” of grieving: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and, eventually, acceptance. For example: Denial: “This isn’t happening. This can’t be happening. This didn’t happen.” Anger: blaming, rage, punching things, sometimes envy, sometimes guilt. Bargaining: “Please God, bring him back to life,