Family Dynamics Can Be Dynamite

In Anna Karenina, Tolstoy suggests "all happy families are alike." Unfortunately this is not true - no two families are alike. Family dynamics take years to develop. Wherever we go, we take our family baggage with us. It's always packed and ready to go! When families merge, the experiences that each person brings to the relationship are different but loaded. Who we are in the present is based on our experiences as children. Our frame of reference is always familial; everyone's expecations are different. What do we do when we see things through other lenses? How can we reconcile when viewpoints differ? Certain respones trigger negativity and anger - specifically "you're wrong," "no," "why did you do that?" are just a few.


For some, hurt feelings build up and come out as anger. Some people say nothing but feel resentful and hurt. Less is always more; what you don't say speaks volumes. "I" messages allow us to express our own feelings without placing blame on another. It helps to take a step back and think about how you want to approach the situation. A helpful excercise is to write down your angry thoughts on paper. This gives you personal relief and a chance to reevaluate the situation. Negative thoughts can bring you down. Always try to keep an open mind and believe that things can get better and have a positive outcome - because they can!

Mother's Day Revisited

Most everyone realizes that Mother’s Day is a holiday that was started by some smart merchandisers, as was Father’s Day. Even though we know that, it still feels good to be acknowledged. Mothers work hard raising their kids. It’s not that they don’t deserve to be celebrated. For people who have lost their mothers, or for parents who have lost a child, it can be a painful reminder. It can be a little bit like New Year’s Eve – if you don’t have a date, you don’t know what to do with yourself. Parents and children all have different styles, which can sometimes lead to miscommunication. Here’s a recent example:

Sitting around a card table a week before Mother’s Day, one of the players said, “What are you doing for Mother’s Day?” One mother proudly said that her children were coming in and taking her to their home in the country for the weekend, where they were all going to have a glorious time. Another said she had been invited to a large Mother’s Day brunch. A third mother announced that her children were taking her to a hit Broadway show. The fourth person was silent with a stony look on her face. “And what have you planned?” they all chirped gaily. “Nothing,” was the reply.

The day before Mother’s Day, she received a call. “Hey mom, what are you doing tomorrow?” “Nothing,” replied the mother, who had made alternate plans just in case. “But it’s Mother’s Day!” the child said. “Really?” said the mother, “I never thought you’d ask.” The child replied that she’d been extremely busy and the mother testily answered “So have I.” The family met the following day at a coffee shop and the mother was not smiling sweetly. The daughter then produced flowers and a wonderful gift that she had made and said, “Mom, we’ve spent the last ten Mother’s Days together. I don’t want you to ever think about it again, just assume we’ll be together.” And that was that. The stylistic difference in this particular family is that the mother plans way ahead, while the daughter seems to be a spur-of-the-moment kind of person.

It gets complicated when our grown children marry and there are two mothers to consider. Some solve this by each child going with their own parent. Some split the day, seeing one mother for lunch and one for dinner. A happier solution is to blend the two families and spend the day together. No matter how it’s worked out, mothers like to be acknowledged. Happy (belated) Mother’s Day!

Creating A Life of Your Own

Becoming a grandparent can be one of the biggest thrills of a lifetime. Unfortunately, there is a negative aspect as well. Many of us have a fear of uselessness, growing older and 
"killing time." This concept seems sad to us. Time is too valuable.

People in their 60's and early 70's are often worried about giving up a job and filling their days. Many people define themselves by their careers. What then? Some grandparents become completely involved with their grandchildren, who become the focus of their lives.
Others find solace in playing bridge, canasta or Mah Jong. Some people travel and find hobbies that interest them. 

We cannot depend on our children to fill our lives. That is our job.

Many of us feel that we should be doing more. We should not let age define who we are. Some people think "old" at age 30.  Old is in your mind. Keeping young is having a positive attitude and always looking for new challenges and opportunities.

Letting Your Adult Child Grow Up

When does an adult child become an adult in a parent’s eyes? For some us NEVER! That is our own blind spot. Your child’s independence begins with its first step; its first use of language, with its first, but definite, “No!” Its first real leaving us, sometimes reluctantly, is at the nursery school door. From there it is on to grade school, not hesitantly this time. When they reach middle and high school, most children are raring to go! They still need us, but we are no longer the center of their lives, while they are still our center. Now it is all about their peers, their marvelous “new to us” iPads, iPhones, computer, computer games – that is their reality. It is natural, it is fair, yet it does not seem so to us. It is hard to let go. We hold in our minds the image of the sobbing three year old was has skinned its knee, the loving embrace of a five year old asking, “What do you think?”, or the ten year old inquiring, “Do you like it? I made it especially for you.”

Suddenly it is just you and your spouse. “Alone at last” is not always your response. You haven’t had to deal with each other for quite a while. You always had that child between you. You planned for it and hoped for it each step of the way; but a grownup? Now reality sets in and often finds you unprepared.

The biggest change comes with high school graduation. This is not going quite the way you thought it would. Perhaps you had in mind a lovely quiet dinner with extended family after the ceremony. No, the child is going to a huge party, usually in Brooklyn, at night, no parents allowed! Oh well. Next your child is going off to college, nowhere near you and is never really coming home as a permanent resident, if you are lucky in these hard economic times.

Long before the word “Parenting” became part of the English language, the best “parting” advice I know was to be found in a book called “Claudia” by Rose Franken, published in the early 1940s. Speaking of the child-parent bond Franken wrote “hold close with open hands.” I have lived by that motto. Trying to hold tightly to your child, to protect it constantly, even with the best of intentions, will not be appreciated. How can anyone grow up without knowing disappointment and pain? It cannot be done! We must realize that our children can and will cope with hardship. Hopefully, we taught them how.

Our children do not belong to us. They never did. Everything we think we own is an illusion. Everything and everyone we love is on loan. We can enjoy many things, especially our children. Our greatest gift to them is to let them go, let them grow up, although that can mean our growing apart from them. Separation is a lifelong task and not always easy or pleasant. From birth to death we separate from those we love. Our children must find their own identities, just as we fought to find ours from our own mothers and fathers. At times we grow closer to each other, at other times more distant. Our children grown up and we grow with them. Someone once said to me, “The most important things you can give your child are roots and wings and roots are not the hardest.”

When Your Child Asks for Help

When you adult child asks for your advice, what should you do? When they specifically ask for your help, they really want it. Letting them know that you understand is key. Common sense, listening, and avoiding hysterical outbursts are essential. Calm is in order.

Hard as it is to do, try to separate your pain from your child's. When those you love are in pain, it is difficult not to worry. As much as we want to help, there are times when they must resolve it on their own. It is really tough to keep the right balance and stay sane and helpful. If you say something unhelpful, you will know it fast enough since you will be cut off. If you are on the phone they might say, "okay mom, gotta go now."

It is often true that you don't hear from your adult child when things are going well, but you can be sure the phone will ring when trouble arises. We strive to be a safe harbor for our children when they need our help and support. If our children are more concerned about our reaction to their problem they will not come to us. The goal as parents should be to "hold them close with open hands."

We Are the Product of Our Own Upbringing

At our last grandparents meeting, the topic was “Letting Go of Our Adult Children.” This led us to a spirited discussion of our own parents and how they parented us. We felt that it was very much a part of the topic, because not only do we have to let our children grow up in their own way, we also have to let go of our own parents to become the realized people that we are.

Our grandparents’ generation was a product of the Depression. Their goal was to see that their children “had it better” – food, clothing, and job security. After World War II, parents wanted their children to have a better life than they had, and thought they could achieve this through higher education and acquiring material things. This generation wants their children to be safe and accomplished; they move at a much faster pace due to new technologies. The stress level is much higher today due to economic pressures and social and world insecurities.

Our generation had to let go of what we sometimes thought of as petty tyranny and parental control of our every action. Some of us were never really able to do that. We have a friend in her eighties who constantly blames her mother for her own faults. Amazing but true. What do we need to become fully formed adults and to be our best selves? We need to let go. We need to have the ability to see ourselves realistically and not be a pastiche of what others want us to be; not our parents’ vision nor our own childrens’ vision. We just need to be us!

What You Don't Say Speaks Volumes

Thinking back to our own childhoods, both of us remember something called “the look.” “The Look” was usually on your mother’s face and it conveyed a message of complete dissatisfaction with what you were wearing, doing, or where you were going.

As educated grandparents and parents, we think that our expressions are neutral. In reality, our feelings are visible and readily obvious to our children and grandchildren. We are often unaware that a raised eyebrow, a shrug of a shoulder, a deep sigh, or looking the other way can show displeasure.

Conversely, our children often respond non-verbally as well. Their reactions to us might include rolling their eyes, shuffling their feet, or reading a text message, which indicates their impatience and annoyance. These gestures replace unkind words or, often, too many words. Could this be a good communication strategy?

Even when we try to “zip it,” our body language often shows our true feelings, to which we are entitled. Body language can be used to communicate positive unspoken feelings as well as the negative ones. A huge smile, a hug, a slight nod or a touch or squeeze of a hand, speak volumes.

Tell us what you think!

Ann and Sue