The Lifeworks Group, Inc.

By Matt W. Sandford, LMHC Do all couples fight? Over the years I’ve certainly seen plenty that do, and I’ve also have seen a fair share who claim they don’t or that they never saw their parents fight. It’s my proposition that pretty much all couples fight. I would wager that those who claim they don’t fight either are using a style called withdraw or alimentation as their form of fighting, or they don’t have enough of a relationship to even bother to fight. You see, fighting in marriage may be really bad stuff and may represent a road to the end – divorce is on its way. But , fighting in marriage may also represent two people who are really different, living in a fallen world, trying to get their needs met, express themselves and make their marriage work, all while under stress. What if a lot of fighting in marriage isn’t really bad, it’s just badly managed? What if often we aren’t really trying to be a jerk or bitch and we don’t hate the other person, but instead we are...

  By Chris Hammond In your head you keep a constant ledger and running total of all the gifts, grades, thank-you notes, kind acts, punishments, harsh words, phone calls, and hugs for each child.   You carefully check the ledger daily to ensure that your kids are all getting equal time, attention, and punishment as the thought you might be unfair to one child is extremely painful.   It may sound exhausting, but the alternative of appearing to favor one child over the other is far worse than having to maintain the ledger.   You are a Bookkeeper Parent.   As a bookkeeper parent, your favorite questions will be centered around the word “How”.   How are you going to do that?   How do you feel?   How are you doing?   Bookkeeper parents are very fair, diplomatic, and loyal but can easily get their feelings hurt in the process of parenting especially when accused of being unfair, undiplomatic and disloyal.   If your child...