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Give Something for Nothing!
It takes donations to provide sliding scale services to our/your clients. Here are two ways to give to us without spending a dime: AMAZON.com — instead of going to amazon.com, copy and paste this address into your browser every time you shop: smile.amazon.com/ch/58-2497206 Then, just shop like you normally do. Nothing is different. Amazon will donate a percentage of…
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Let’s Just Call a Therapist
“…of course the therapist would have to say something to the court…wouldn’t she?”
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18 is the New 15
Teens are not equipped to handle too much responsibility. Recent research is telling us that 18 is the new 15, meaning that teens are maturing at a slower rate than they were decades ago. According to Dr. Daniel Siegel, “In a culture that says, ‘Okay, you’re going to go to high school, go to college,…
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Asking the Right Questions
One of the biggest parenting mistakes you can make is in how you respond to your child’s questions or statements about divorce or your co-parent. Too often, parents engage in defensive or factual answers that don’t get at what the child really cares about. Here are a few examples: “Mom said that if you…
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Modeling Resilience
Resilience is a dying word in our society, in my opinion. It’s the capacity to recover quickly from difficult circumstances or the ability of a substance to spring back into shape after being stretched. Although making accommodations for certain trauma is certainly necessary and understandable, not all difficulties or “stretching” is considered trauma. In the…
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Giving Teens a Choice
We all recognize that teenagers have lives outside of their parents – lives they would much rather cultivate than their relationship with their parents! But we also know that during the teen years, a lot of things can go awry if a good solid parent/child bond is not in place. When I was a teen,…
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The Truth about Parental Alienation
The phrase parental alienation has become somewhat ubiquitous in custody cases these days, reminiscent of the path ADHD and bipolar disorder took years ago when they became the disorders du jour and popularized by our culture and media. Unfortunately, when that happens, the terms become watered down and eventually dismissed as overused and exaggerated, leaving…
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The Step-Parent Dilemma
NOTE: In this article, I use the phrase “bio-parent” when referring to a biological parent, legal guardian or adoptive parent. It is meant to be inclusive, and used as a matter of convenience, not as a technical description. I love a good step-parent! Sometimes they can be way more level-headed than the bio-parents and can…
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Peace Requires Acceptance
I wish I had a dollar for every co-parent who has told me they “just want peace” in their co-parent relationship. If the other parent is not going to give it to you willingly, you may have to rely on acceptance in order to create it for yourself. To put it bluntly, whomever you intentionally…
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Listen to Diane Dierks on News Talk Radio 106.7
What is “healthy” co-parenting? The answer is to be realistic about whether or not you can be cooperative or should accept a parallel style (just sticking to the plan). Do whatever it takes to protect the children from conflict — THAT’S what defines healthy co-parenting… CLICK HERE TO STREAM THE SHOW!
