As if being estranged from your adult child(ren) weren’t bad enough, the stress of the emotional pain it causes could actually affect your heart. Known by various names, including Takotsubo Syndrome and stress cardiomypathy, Broken-Heart Syndrome is brought on mainly by emotional or physical stressors. Extreme emotions, such as those that may accompany an unwanted …
Do you prefer listening to reading? There’s an episode of the Reconnection Club Podcast on this same topic. Listen now: Ep 139: Emotions of Estrangement * * * When you first realize you’ve become estranged from your adult child(ren), you may be shocked. Also confused, afraid, and maybe a little bit panicked. Some parents who’ve …
We’re excited to announce the first of three planned Learning Pathways to be released in 2023 for Reconnection Club members. Learning Pathways are recommended resource packages for specific circumstances. They provide a list of suggested materials to digest in sequence, along with a workbook for note-taking and review. The Green learning pathway is for parents …
At the beginning of every new year, there’s a load of messages out there about making a new start. But not everyone has the energy to do that in January. For parents of estranged adult children, the past few months have likely been stressful. Worrying about what to do about the holidays, and whether and …
How would you feel if your estranged adult child came back into your life today, with a kind and open heart? What if you could hold a beloved grandchild, or take part in a family gathering, surrounded by smiles? You might immediately answer, “Well, that’s what I want, obviously.” But that wasn’t the question. The …
Do you prefer listening to reading? We some audio for you, based on this article. Check out Reconnection Club Podcast #132: Self-Care for Parents of Estranged Adult Children. * * * Autumn is my favorite time of year. Maybe it’s my Scandinavian heritage, but I tend to wilt in the heat and spend most summers …
Do you prefer listening to reading? For an audio treatment of this article, listen to Reconnection Club Podcast Episode 129: 7 Ways Parents Waste Time During Estrangement. * * * If your adult child is currently estranged, how you spend your time and attention right now matters. In fact, how you spend your time today, …
The Moving Beyond Family Struggles Summit, hosted by Family Support Resources (FSR), this year featured 26 experts in the field of family estrangement, communication, relationships and personal growth. The entire 2022 Moving Beyond Family Struggles Summit, including all videos and other materials, is available for purchase through FSR. However, FSR has generously provided the Reconnection …
Hey everyone, Yasmin Kerkez sent me the access links for each of the four days of the Moving Beyond Family Struggles Summit 2022, and invited me to share them with you. Two things: You must be registered (use the link above or click the pic), and Each day opens at 9am US Pacific Time / …
If you’ve been around here a while, you might remember last year’s wonderful Moving Beyond Family Struggles Summit, conceived and hosted by Yasmin Kerkez of Family Support Resources. I was honored to be interviewed by Yasmin for that Summit, and I have the honor and pleasure again this year to be part of Day 2 …
Happy New Year! We have exciting plans to expand our library in 2022 by creating a variety of new resources for our members. That will necessarily mean spending more time on member-only content, and less time on the podcast. So… Starting this month, new episodes of The Reconnection Club Podcast will be released every other …
Inside the Reconnection Club, parents help each other try to understand the reasons for their adult children’s decision to create distance. The need for this kind of perspective-taking was highlighted by a study recently published in the journal Couple and Family Psychology: Research and Practice. According to this article, the study found that almost 80% …
Pain is a normal and expected reaction to the loss of important relationships. But for some parents rejected by adult children, ordinary pain is made worse by unhealed injuries from the past. (See also The Deep Pain of the Rejected Parent) If you’ve been hurt deeply or often in your life, even a healthy response …
It’s so human to want to teach someone a lesson when they’re behaving badly. Maybe because of the fundamental attribution error (we attribute other people’s behavior to temperament, ours to circumstances), we tend to focus on correcting poor behavior in other people. We aren’t quite as ardent when it comes to scrutinizing ourselves. I think …
In every relationship, there’s always the possibility that one of you is ready to take a new step when the other is not. As a parent unwillingly estranged from one or more of your adult children, you can do everything right, say all the right things, and still not get to reconciliation if the timing …
Hey folks, I just wanted to let you know about my latest post over on PsychologyToday.com. You know as well as anyone what it’s like to live with a situation you don’t want. And while estrangement has special challenges that make it ultra-painful, you might be interested in some general tips for making the best …
If you manage to open communication with your estranged adult child, you’ll need to be prepared for the crucial task of receiving complaints. Unless you have a conscious plan for your response, the rift could easily widen. Because the way parents handle complaints makes the estrangement either better or worse. Here’s what you need to …
I don’t always share my relationship-themed PsychologyToday.com posts with estranged parents. Often they’re just not relevant to this audience. But today’s post struck me as being maybe a little bit more interesting, at least to some parents. Several Reconnection Club members have been talking in our forums about relationships in general. They’re sharing that they …
I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Las Vegas-based therapist Lourdes Viado. Lourdes hosts a podcast called “Women in Depth,” and she invited me to do an interview about my book, Reconnecting With Your Estranged Adult Child. Lourdes is a thoughtful interviewer. In this conversation, she highlighted some of the most important aspects of …
Over the years, I’ve heard more than one parent express the concern that their estranged adult child doesn’t have reason to reconcile, because they don’t even like the parent in the first place. Recently, one of our Reconnection Club members posed this question in our forums: If your estranged adult child doesn’t like you, is …
