Tag: mother

When Elizabeth Kennedy’s 84-year-old father was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease two years ago, she removed the car keys from his Johnstown, Pennsylvania home and his Volkswagen Passat from the driveway. Despite warnings from his four children and his doctor, any opportunity to get behind the wheel would have proven too tempting for Kennedy’s newly widowed dad.

"He was convinced he was a perfectly good driver, and he took it like he was being attacked," she said. "My father didn’t understand why we told him he couldn’t drive anymore."

Mothers are a very important figure in a son’s life. A mother and son bond are established after birth where the child depends physically and emotionally on their mother. Research suggests that when boys have a strong emotional bond with their mothers they are better in school, relationships and the workplace. They also have lower rates of anxiety and depression. So, is the bond still strong after he gets married?

As a mom, finding ways to stay connected with our daughters as they reach a legal age can be a challenge. They have so much going on in their lives, and it gets harder everyday to maintain ongoing family activities. When budget is a challenge it can be even more difficult to find ways to motivate young adult kids to hang out and truly enjoy each other's company—so, we took a trip together where we could balance activity with relaxation.

When you get married, it’s natural and expected that you and your spouse will focus more on each other than you do on your respective families. However, there are some occasions when it’s important to devote the first fruits of your time and energy to maintaining and strengthening your relationship with the people who raised you. Mother’s Day is definitely one of those times.

What are your plans? Are you going to send some flowers or a card, chat with your mom on the phone and congratulate yourself on doing your duty as a child?

Gossip can be a major threat to a marriage, especially when a mother gossips to her son about his wife and a wife gossips to her family about her husband.

If your mother-in-law gossips to your husband about you, here’s what you can do. Gently tell your husband, "I‘d like to start having a healthier relationship with your mom, so in the future, I‘m going to communicate directly with her instead of gossiping to you about her. And I need for you to start refusing to listen to your mom gossip about me, too. The next time she starts to say something negative about me, I’d like for you to say, ‘Mom, I don’t like being caught in the middle, so I’m not willing to listen to you criticize my wife anymore. I need for the two of you to talk directly to each other from now on.’"