You & Your Family

Belonging to a community

“I don’t mind the Christian God, it’s the Christians that I have a problem with!” A statement like this is unfortunate, since Christ’s followers are supposed to be the earthly expression…

Identity: Formation or discovery?

The topic of identity has recently come up repeatedly with clients I have been counselling. A case that has made a strong impression on me involves a couple who have…

Social distancing and safe connections

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected us in so many ways. Around the world, millions of deaths have been reported and an unknown number suffer the ravages of long COVID. The…

Calming the storms and stress of adolescence

The psychologist G. Stanley Hall coined the phrase “storms and stress” to describe the intense interpersonal and intrapersonal turmoil that adolescents typically experience. No longer children but not yet adults,…

Living under a cloud

The COVID-19 pandemic has cast a menacing cloud over humanity and directly affected every country, rich or poor. Over the past year and a half, a staggering 187 million have…

How and what should you teach your children?

“Teach your children” is a hit song by Crosby, Stills and Nash. Written in 1970, it reminds parents that they have a responsibility to teach their children, and should they…

Cookie-cutter fathers, then and now

Each time I run my counselling course, I set the students an essay that asks them to draw their family tree and examine how their family has shaped them. This…

Blissful indifference

Recently, many were unsettled, if not shocked, by news reports of a family’s cruelty to their domestic helper, who was abused and tortured to the point of death. Then there…

Sacrificing well

As I reflect on the topic of sacrifice, especially in the context of family relationships, let me begin with a simple definition. Sacrifice is giving up something to gain something…

Change, obsession and keeping up

I am not sure when it happened. Neither do I know how it happened. What I do know is its signs. What I am referring to is losing the fight…
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