I have long believed, and often tell the couples that I work with, that infants are amazingly well organized and sensible creatures. They tell us everything we need to know, IF only we listen. The problem is, we rarely listen. We are busy reading books, watching videos, and asking professionals how to be better parents, without getting to the business of parenting. As a parenting and relationship expert what I see in my practice and with my...
The Million Teenage Mom March!
I know one day my precious little girl Tova, who was in a car seat not that long ago, will come to me to say that she is going to or already has had sex. And when that day comes, I expect my husband and I will laugh and cry, feeling sad for the baby that has grown up in front of our eyes and happy that we have created a home in which she feels comfortable talking to us. I imagine the conversation about sexual safety that I will have with both...
I Hate You!!
How many times have we repeated the thought “I HATE YOU!” in our minds about our co-workers, parents or even our spouse while in a fit of frustration? Many of us have said those words to people we deeply love and care about and obviously don’t truly hate. I must confess, right now I am thinking those awful words “I hate you!” about my own child! She is 7 but I swear she is either hormonal or actually a teenager in a little girl costume! Either...
Was a Fraud Perpetrated Not Just by Casey but by George and Cindy too?
I begin this article being very clear that I am not a lawyer and I do not look at cases or tragic situations within families from the perspective of evidentiary evidence. As a Clinical Psychologist I observe behavior, actions and narrative to get underneath the story that is unfolding before me whether in my practice or as a media psychologist. I have been working with victims of trauma and sexual abuse for over 2 decades. My experience and...
The Trunk
It all began when Asher, Michael and I went to see the sleep away camp that Asher was going to be attending for the first time this year. He is 10 ½, very skinny and very fair skinned with freckles along his cheeks and nose. I call Asher and Tova my Café con Leche. She is the café. He is the leche. What will he eat? He will never put sunscreen on I thought but didn’t say it out loud. What if he drops 10 pounds and becomes weak and unable to...
Genderless Baby? Or Brainless Parents?
In the play Baby With the Bathwater by Christopher Durang written in 1983…Helen and John are very unprepared for parenthood. They can’t seem to name the baby. John thinks it’s a boy, but Helen says the doctors said they could decide later. When the baby cries, they can’t quite decide what to do. They raise him as a girl but he thinks and feels like a boy. At the end of the play we meet Daisy – dressed as a girl, but otherwise a polite,...