Dear Neil: My husband seems to be looking for every little thing the kids do wrong, and it’s causing our children to act the same way toward each other. He does this from the moment he gets up until he goes to bed. He never points out the good. What should I do? Emotionally Drained […]
How Do I Get My Boyfriend Back?
Dear Neil: I am 26 years-old and for the first time in my life I have felt true love with another. But he has broken up with me and left me an emotional and financial train wreck of a mess. The problem is that he compared me to his ex, and accused me of doing […]
Raising an Emotionally Intelligent Child
Note: This is the second of a two-part series. If you wish to raise an emotionally intelligent child, you’re going to have to get good at being your child’s emotion coach. Emotional coaching consists of the following steps: Being aware of the child’s emotions. Emotional awareness means that you recognize when you’re feeling an emotion, […]
How Children Learn To Be Emotionally Intelligent
Note: This is the first of a two-part series. Imagine for a moment what it would be like to grow up in a home where your parents expected you to always be cheerful, happy and calm. The trouble is, things keep happening in your life that makes it nearly impossible to keep up a happy […]
Regaining a Relationship with Your Grown Children
Dear Neil: I have completely lost contact with my grown children (ages 30 to 18). Their mother and I had a nasty, acrimonious divorce, and she practiced child alienation, bad-mouthing and condemning me a great deal to them. I feel rejected by them because it feels as if they have taken their mother’s side and […]
When Your Child Emotionally Emancipates
Dear Neil: We have a thirty-four year old son who is a PhD. He’s always been a social loner, and does not socialize personally much at all. He goes tramping (hiking and camping) and on overseas holidays alone. Recently, by e-mail, he coldly and abusively said that he was fed up with our “interest” and […]
Don’t Over-Generalize Relationship Problems
Dear Neil: My girlfriend is a wonderful woman in every way but one. But this one thing makes me question whether we could ever be compatible with each other long-term. She lets everything go till the last minute. You name it—bills, showing up for an appointment on time, washing dishes, doing the laundry, cleaning her […]
With Defiant Teenager You Must Set Firm Boundaries
Dear Neil: I need some help with how to aid the relationship with my live-in boyfriend and my 14 year-old daughter. She once looked up to him, but is now negative and defiant toward him. She has been labeled in the special education realm as being emotionally disturbed and having Oppositional Defiant Disorder. She and […]