Empathy — the “vitamin” for emotionally healthy families

Would you like a world in which everyone only looks out for themselves or one in which people genuinely care about one another? How about in your family? Would you prefer to have a spouse that believes only his experience is correct or one who treats your perspective...

Apologies aren’t enough (from parents)

In my post, Apologizing — a skill of a masterful parent, I wrote about the importance of parents making apologies to their children. I emphasized that apologizing helped parents “cultivate a long-term, respect-based relationship with our children,” in...

Judging parents and kids

Recently I was in the gym locker room cleaning up after my Wednesday workout. A mother and her son were there also. The mom was speaking at her son in a critical way as if he himself was a problem for her. Her tone was harsh — think “barking” drill...

Children need imperfect parents

When my mom died, I was 21. At her memorial service, many of the people I spoke to told me that I reminded them of my mom in many good ways. I was deeply touched to be considered so similar to this amazing woman. As the decades have passed since this time, however,...