Dear Neil: I can relate to an article you wrote some months ago on parental alienation. My two daughters are now in their mid-twenties, and have started the beginnings of their own lives. To this day, nothing has changed for me regarding my relationship with my now two young adult children. My time spent with […]
Dear Neil: I’m in a four-year relationship with a man who just turned 40. We have been talking about marriage and kids for over two years now, almost always in conversations brought up by me. I’m almost 32, and I’m ready to start a family. My boyfriend has said he has real fears about having […]
Here’s how it feels: your child—or your last child, the baby—has gone off to college, gotten married or otherwise left home, and you are struggling with conflicting emotions. On the one hand, you’ve waited for this day a long time. You’ve fantasized about it, dreamed about what you would do when you had more time […]
Dear Neil: I am engaged to a wonderful, charming man. He is everything I want in a man: thoughtful, intelligent, funny, loving and handsome. We have been together over 4 years, and have seen each other through good times and bad. We have both been married and divorced previously, and we each have 3 children […]
Note: This is the first of a two-part series. Click here for part two Did you have a parent who constantly criticized you? Did this parent expect you to admire him or her and give him or her constant attention? Or perhaps your parent insisted that everything be done his or her way, and your […]
Dear Neil: I have five grown children and have always been a loving and supportive parent. I call and visit when I have money for gas, but my children aren’t as poor as I am, and they seldom call me and hardly ever visit. I never ask for their help—I just want them to call […]
Dear Neil: I am torn between helping my unemployed sister out or thinking that I am just enabling her. My sister hasn’t worked for legal tender in years. I have agreed to pay her rent of $750 per month for her 1 bedroom apartment this past year, with the agreement that she would start to […]
Dear Neil: My son has been married to a drama queen for ten years. I see them and my two granddaughters (aged 7 and 4) infrequently, despite the fact that they live only an hour away. When we meet, I get along well with my son, and my granddaughters are a delight. My daughter-in-law tends […]
Dear Neil: My wife and I divorced 3 years ago, and since then my children (ages 15, 12 and 10) will have almost nothing to do with me. My ex-wife now hates me, and makes me appear to be evil, which I’m not. I was a doting dad, and I did everything I could to […]
Dear Neil: I was an emotionally absent mother, just like my mother was to me. Now my children are adults with their own children, and I would like to mend the past with them. My son shows the scars of his past and often rejects me by words or actions. My greatest wish is that […]