Family Matters Articles in the Laconia Daily Sun
Family Consultation Services was established to offer family educational programs and personal consulting services to people who want to know more about family dynamics, figure out how their own family works, and how to help individuals free themselves from the issues they developed while growing up in their family.
The following articles were published in the Laconia Daily Sun to begin conversations on these important topics. Please add comments or questions to the articles, and let’s keep talking.
“You Are What You Do…Not What You Say You’ll Do”
C.G. Jung
The Family During Adolescence
Adolescence is often a stormy time for families. One of the major reasons for this is that adolescents are beginning in earnest their crucial task of separating from their parents and family of origin and learning to become independent and unattached young adults. ...
Therapy or Consulting?
Someone asked me recently what the difference was between being in therapy or working with a consultant. That is a great question because there are significant differences in my view. Therapy is first introduced to an individual at an early age as though something is...
Please Don’t Let Your Guard Down
Experts are concerned that the coronavirus pandemic has created a perfect storm for substance abuse disorders to be on the rise. Reports indicate that Americans over 30 have been drinking more this year during Covid than the previous year; the consumption increase is...
Prevention and Awareness
I wish that there had been a Professional Course entitled “Relationships 101.” Most of us would have benefitted from that. We would have learned that to be a grown-up, you have to know and love yourself. That as an adult, you have the full-time, everyday...
The Importance of Marital Negotiation
What is negotiation? The dictionary says, “to confer with another…in order to come to terms or reach an agreement…to arrange or settle by discussion and mutual agreement.” And “agree” means, “to grant consent, to be in accord of opinion, to be of one opinion,...
The Decision to Create a Child
The next stage in the couple’s family life cycle, if they choose it, is the addition of a child. Wow! Those words just rolled off my lips. Do I realize the gravity of what I am saying? There is no turning back; your lives will be changed forever. I cannot say...
What is Marriage Preparation?
What would marriage preparation look like? Would anybody be interested in pursuing a psycho-social educational program that would prepare people to make better and more informed decisions when it comes to marriage? I am an optimist as well as somebody who is...
Becoming a Couple: The Joining of Families
In her book, Marriage: A History, Stephanie Coontz writes, “For most of history it was inconceivable that people would choose their mates on the basis of something as fragile and irrational as love and then focus all their sexual, intimate, and altruistic desires on...
Using the Family Life Cycle
Last week I introduced you to the Family Life Cycle. It chronicles the movement of families through progressive stages of development. The theory presents a journey that all families pass through at different speeds and with different results. Carter and...
The Family Life Cycle
Most of us are aware that there is a progress chart to measure achild's growth and development. As we were raising our children, we were able to see and observe their progress; able to go to a pediatrician or book to find out what the markers were for a child's...