Jealousy and Friends: The Life of a 6-Year-Old
My 6-year-old daughter, Tova, came to me last week in tears after her “besty,” Sophia, got mad at her for playing with another a little girl. Tova started crying as soon as the automatic door on our minivan slid shut, and when the snot started coming out of her nose, I knew it was serious. Tova is a confident and happy girl with a lot of friends. (A Sagittarius, she’s pretty easygoing and always ready for a party.) What she told me was, Sophia had become angry with her because she found out that Tova had had a playdate with...
read moreJoannie Rochette Will Skate Despite Tragedy
Our hearts go out to Joannie Rochette, the 24-year-old figure skater whose mother died suddenly of a massive heart attack early Sunday morning in Vancouver. Ronda Kaysen: Joannie, Canada‘s best hope for a figure-skating medal since Elizabeth Manley won silver in 1988, has decided to continue competing for a spot on the Olympic podium. On Sunday morning, she wiped away tears and practiced in the Pacific Coliseum with her father looking on. Joannie’s dad — who was with her mom, Therese, when she collapsed — delivered the...
read moreTiger Should Focus on Family, Not His Brand
Tiger Woods was spot-on when he said, “Every one of you has good reason to be critical of me.” Dr. Michelle Golland: Watching him make his on-air statement, I saw a father and son who is truly broken. Getting in-patient treatment is no easy road — especially for someone like Tiger, who in the days prior to entering treatment was still trying to cover his tracks and keep his own lies going. Tiger’s in recovery all right — and not just from sex addiction. Personally, I think he has an underlying issue: Narcissistic...
read moreAmy Bishop: Resentment and Rage
One look into Amy Bishop‘s past will show a long history of violent behavior. Amy Bishop, mother of four (the youngest in third grade), is accused of gunning down three of her fellow professors at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. The portrait that is now emerging of Bishop is one filled with resentment and rage. This rage may have been brewing for a long time: Bishop shot and killed her brother in 1986 with a shotgun. She was cleared of all charges at the time, and the death was ruled an “accident.” The young Bishop...
read moreJenny Sanford: A Portrait of Grace and Dignity
When I first saw Governor Sanford say his mistress was his “soul mate,” I knew that the union between Jenny Sanford and her soon-to-be-ex-husband would not be able to last. I felt the pain of humiliation that she must have experienced in that horribly public moment of admission. As women, we can recover from a sexual liaison with little emotional connection much easier than from an affair of the heart characterized by deep emotional ties. I always try to champion marriage, especially when children are involved. I watched, as many...
read more‘We Stopped the Adoption after the Child Lashed Out’
A mother we talked to last month, Corey Waters, told us she was forced to disrupt the adoption of her son because he assaulted her daughters. She says: “He has suffered extensive abuse in his life — in the orphanage for sure. He has hurt some of our kids; it is not safe for them to be around him, and he has been in a residential treatment center for a long time now. It has been very painful process to get to the point of deciding to disrupt the adoption.” She has found another loving home to take him in — but the...
read moreHeidi Montag and Her Mom: A Big Lesson
Mothers and daughters relationships are complicated. We love each other, we hate each other, we want to be closer and we can’t stand being smothered. What we want and what we have don’t always add up for us or if it adds up it doesn’t feel like we thought it would. We often have anger mixed with love and joy surrounded by disappointment. Like I said it is complicated, very complicated. Look at Heidi Montag and her mom Darlene Egelhoff. The headlines that read, “My mom looked at me like a zoo animal after my plastic...
read moreExtreme Spoiling Leads to Extreme Problems
We shake our heads at P-Diddy’s latest purchase for his son. Dr. Michelle Golland: Okay. To any 16-year-old, getting a Maybach ($360,000.00) would seem super-cool — but to most adults who hear this, they are slightly horrified. We know P-Diddy has the money, the recession hasn’t hit him, but it goes deeper than money. It is about his son’s psyche. It is about purpose and meaning — and the lack of it can cause depression and feelings of worthlessness and shame at a core level for a child. We know that P-Diddy can...
read moreWhat Will Happen to John Edwards’ Children?
The recent and long overdue admission by John Edwards to fathering a baby with mistress Rielle Hunter has certainly come at a high price, especially in light of his lack of integrity, honesty, and humility about his infidelity. While I do believe that we can repair many issues in our marriages (including affairs), this can only be accomplished if the culpable party is truly honest. The pain and damage Edwards has inflicted upon his older children is immense. The continuous denials of the affair and the confirmed paternity of Frances Quinn are...
read moreOur Kids Are Stressed Out!
Kids don’t need to work, have bills to pay, or worry if there is food in the refrigerator, but they have plenty to feel stressed out about. It appears that kids today are more stressed out than in previous generations due in part to technology, overscheduling, and family stressors. Michelle Golland: Childhood is filled with outside pressure coming from sources such as school, parents, and peers, but kids can also have stress coming from within. Often the pressure we put on ourselves can be the most intense. Kids can feel overwhelmed,...
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