Hopefully, single adults with children will talk about the issues of co-parenting and blending a family before they try it. Raising children together involves values, parenting and discipline styles, religion and ethnic traditions, which must be understood and agreed upon by the parents.

In my counseling office, I see a lot of damage done because people don’t know how to ask for what they want, or don’t think it’s OK. Not asking for what you want means you’ll eventually resent somebody, and that leads to a lot of strife. So today, I thought I’d give some hints about [...]

What we usually call worry is a continuous thought that keeps interrupting your mode of thought and that you find it hard to get away from. If it’s continuous and not focused on any one thing, we tend to call it anxiety. Worry drains and wastes your energy and makes you less likely to make [...]

Most of us put a lot of emphasis on our relationships: family, friends and significant others. But, did you know that the relationship you have with everyone else is based on your relationship with you? That’s right, the closer you get to other people, the more you treat them the way you treat yourself. That [...]

When I was about 7, I had a doll, originally a “Betsy-Wetsy” doll, who had eyes that would close and who drank a bottle and wet her diaper (big toy technology when I got the doll, about 1949) I had had the doll a few years, left her out in the sun and rain, so [...]

None of us wants to think about it, but the standard definition of a totally successful relationship is the old, traditional “til death do us part.” Any time we love, whether it’s a life partner, a dear friend, a child, a sibling, a parent or even a beloved pet, we are risking the loss of [...]

As life develops, many of us have an urge to focus on the deeper issues — our dreams and goals, and our emotional and spiritual development. When this happens, life gradually becomes more about meaning and satisfaction and less about obligations and accomplishments. As you mature, you can focus on living the life [...]