DEALING WITH YOUR EX ON SPECIAL OCCASIONS
How to Be Together on Your Kids’ Special Days After You’ve Split Up
Published on November 22nd, 2011 | By Matt McMillen | WebMD Feature
The first year after a separation is always the hardest, says psychologist Shirley Thomas, PhD, author of Two Happy Homes: A Working Guide for Parents & Stepparents after Divorce and Remarriage.
“All family members are grieving,” Thomas says. “It’s unavoidable.”
Younger children are especially vulnerable. For them, Thomas says, it might be best to consider sticking — as much as possible — with the family’s established routine during the first holiday season that you’re apart.
“Small children won’t comprehend why things are different,” Thomas says. “Consider limiting the hours you are together but still spend time together if possible. As you develop new patterns of celebrating, you want your child to realize that although things are different, they can still be happy.”
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WILL BRITNEY SPEARS’ PANTYLESS ANTICS HURT HER CUSTODY CASE?
Published December 01, 2006 | FOX News
One family therapist said Brit’s shenanigans are an indication that she’s going through a selfish phase.
“None of this is in the children’s best interests,” said Boulder, Colo., clinical psychologist Shirley Thomas, who specializes in separation and divorce. “When someone is acting out, they’re rather absent in parenting the child emotionally even when they are with the child.”
She doesn’t believe Britney’s bad behavior means she’s an unfit mother. If anything, she said, the custody battle Spears and Federline are embroiled in is more harmful to the kids than anything Spears has done on her own.
“These two need to get onto the co-parenting bandwagon, put down the weapons and work together,” said the author of “Parents Are Forever.”
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