The Cash Crunch Can Make a Couple Crumble
I see many couples struggling with how to deal with money, what money means to each of them, and simply how to communicate about cash. The root issue around money can often be power: who holds the power, and who is getting what they want and need in the marriage and who is not. Money can also bring up issues of trust and fear. Money is emotional, and money has value beyond just the currency, but it also relates to our history and how our families and parents dealt with money. With my couples, I always ask them about their memories about money...
read moreTiger, Three Strikes and You’re Out!
Tiger doesn’t have to be benched forever. He can come back into the game, and even back into a healthy marriage with Elin. Will it take work? Yes. Will it be painful? Yes. Will he have to face issues he never wanted to look at in himself or in his wife? Yes. If he rises to this challenge in his marriage, will his kids be better for it? Yes. Will he and Elin be better people and better partners for it? For sure! We are surprised, but we are not that surprised. A big-time athlete with money and power and lots of opportunities to meet...
read moreCAP: Citizens Against Predators
I’m infuriated at seeing more and more child sexual predators get off with easy sentences. The time for justice is now. During this year, we have seen too many stories about repeat child sexual predators being involved yet again in the rape or murder of a child. I am continually outraged by our unimaginably flawed system that is supposedly designed to protect our children from further harm. These predatory animals are released again and again, only to continue on with their disgusting and heinous crimes against children. The flaw in the...
read moreKiss, Let’s Do Lunch: The Frenemy Pandemic
Recently I had an educational experience with a social acquaintance whom my husband and I both really liked: he was fun, silly, and fabulous. Then the bizarre incident occurred: “Social Friend” told one of my Besties I did something totally insane and untrue. Sounds like high school, doesn’t it? The crafty Social Friend even called me to chat and thank me for being a good friend, just before the crazy call to my BFRIE … Was Social Friend cuckoo for cocoa puffs? While trying to do damage control with Bestie, I confided...
read moreDoes Quinn Gray Have Stockholm Syndrome?
The wealthy Florida woman Quinn Gray, who stands accused of faking her kidnapping and extorting money from her husband, may have been suffering from Stockholm Syndrome (the psychological bonding that can occur between captive and abuser), which was complicated by bipolar disorder. After listening to the tapes and watching her husband Reid struggling to understand this complicated and devastating incident, I am not convinced that she did any of this willingly. Given the family history of Quinn Gray, it does appear that she has been suffering...
read moreMichael Lohan: A Desperate and Despicable Dad!
Is Michael Lohan despicable for trying to sell the recorded conversations he had with his daughter and ex-wife? Yes. He is also a desperate dad with apparently very few options. We all can see the downward spiral of Lindsay Lohan, and many people, including her mother, father, and assistant, fear she will not recover from what appears to be a life ofchaos and addiction. To what lengths would any of us go to save our grown daughter from herself? Michael Lohan obviously has demonstrated poor judgment as a father, particularly by accepting money...
read moreHow Could a Serial Killer Go Undetected?
Cops say Anthony Sowell is a sociopathic sexual predator. He allegedly preyed upon a vulnerable population: African-American women who lived on society’s fringe. Some were active or recovering alcoholics and drug addicts. Some had gone to jail and had criminal records. The family members of those that went missing believe that when their loved ones disappeared, the police did not take their concerns seriously. The fiance of Janice Webb, one of Sowell’s alleged victims, reports that the Lakewood Police would not even take a missing...
read moreExplaining Violence to Kids
As hard as it may seem to turn something as horrific as the tragic shooting at Fort Hood into a teachable moment with our kids, it can be done. And it should be done: we can’t assume that kids won’t hear about these events simply because we monitor their viewing of the television in our own homes. Our kids also live in a world where their friends may be discussing these events on the school yard, or they may hear it or see it at one of their peers’ homes. That is why it is imperative that we discuss, in age-appropriate ways,...
read moreGirls Can Be Bad Sports, Too
A college soccer player was just suspended for some seriously rough play. Talk about mean girls! New Mexico has suspended soccer player Elizabeth Lambert. In a championship game, she threw elbows, took out BYU players at the legs, and finally yanked BYU forward Kassidy Shumway to the ground with a tug to Shumway’s ponytail. With such examples in the news, how do we teach our kids to be better sports than Lambert was? Teaching our children good sportsmanship is key to their emotional connections with peers. Social and emotional skills...
read moreWhy Teens Are Killing Kids
Why did two teens murder their neighbors? A psychologist sheds some light on the matter. We are shocked and horrified that the suspect in the murder of Elizabeth Olten is a 15-year-old female neighbor who knew the family. We want answers as to why this girl would lure a 9-year-old into the woods and murder her in cold blood. We also want to know why a 14-year-old would kill his 4-year-old neighbor, Alex Mercado, and stuff his body in a dryer. We want answers because we are frightened as parents for the safety of our children, or by the...
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