Divorce/Custody

John's Most Recent Articles

What Should Single Mom Do About Disrespectful Son?

Posted on 6/7/2022

Q: I’m a single mother with a 13-year-old son. His father, whom he sees infrequently, has PTSD from battle experiences. My son has anger toward his father, but I can’t get him to talk about it....

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Discipline Differences Between Divorced Parents

Posted on 5/10/2022

Q: We see my husband's 9-year-old son every other weekend and two weeks in the summer. He has major issues in school with both behavior and doing his work. He's well behaved when he's with us, but...

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On Chores, Discipline, Potty-Training

Posted on 3/29/2022

Q: When I give my 5-year-old daughter a chore, she does it, but all the while she is muttering under her breath, huffing and puffing, and so on. Do I discipline that behavior or just let her...

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Handle Split Custody Parenting Issues With Grace

Posted on 9/14/2020

Q: My 13-year-old son’s grades and overall respect for me and other adults – teachers, in particular – began going downhill last year (eighth grade), even before the shutdown. He began school this...

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Father's Visitation With Child Should Be Allowed

Posted on 1/15/2020

Q: Our ten-year-old granddaughter lives with us. We have custody of her but her father, our son, is now asking us for visitation privileges. I probably don’t need to tell you that both he and his...

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Playing War Games Not Unusual for Young Boys

Posted on 10/22/2019

Q: My normally happy 6-year-old son has recently started incorporating death and war-like games into his imaginative play. He isn't and has never been a mean-spirited child, but his dad and I just...

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One Reason Why Marriages Go Bad: Postnatal Marital Amnesia

Posted on 12/12/2018

Just about every marriage has its share of bad times; then again, some marriages simply go bad. The reasons for the latter include abuse, adultery, alcoholism (and other forms of chemical...

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Exchange Arrangements Stressful to Pre-Teen Daughter

Posted on 9/12/2018

Q: I am reading your book “The Well-Behaved Child” and have a question that it doesn’t address. I am a single mom with children from two different fathers. One of my ex-husbands (my son’s father)...

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Keep Facts About 'Donor Dad' Mum Until Child Is 15

Posted on 10/25/2017

Q: My son just turned 5 and is starting to ask various questions about parents including why some people have two parents and he only has one. About two months before he turned two, his "donor"...

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Custody Issue: Teen Acts Aggressively Towards Mother

Posted on 1/12/2016

Q: My ex-husband and I have pretty much fifty-fifty custody of our 15-year-old son, who has become infected with his father’s disrespect for me. When he’s with me, he makes it very clear that he...

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Recent Questions

MORE SOCIOPATHIC BEHAVIOR FROM 15 YO GIRL

Posted on 8/23/2024

Thank you for your reply. I actually sent both parents a description of sociopathy after the thefts and asked that they send her to counseling. My husband agreed but his ex emphatically disagreed...

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SON DISRESPECTING MOTHER FOLLOWING DIVORCE

Posted on 7/29/2024

I am a single mother since 3 years. His father did not visit our soon to be 10 year old after the separation. Our son started to become aggressive and disrespectful towards me. I arranged the...

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No fair rules and personal responsibility

Posted on 7/5/2024

My 10-year-old daughter is insolent and disobedient at home, especially towards my husband, her stepfather for the past year ("you're not my father"). She doesn't like the new rules that have been...

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Don't Play with a 14-Year-Old

Posted on 12/29/2023

Long story short, after finding out my nearly 14 yr old daughter tells her stepmom how much she hates me and her stepfamily from my side and how much she wants to live with her dad I conceded and...

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DIVORCED DAD WANTS TO TAKE 9 YO ON HOLIDAY, WON'T TELL MOM WHERE

Posted on 10/30/2022

I’m the worst mum in the world and hated because my 9-year-old son isn’t allowed to go on holiday out of the country with his dad and new girlfriend for a family holiday. I told my son's dad no...

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10 Year Old with Violent Fits, Divorced Parents and "trifecta of diagnoses"

Posted on 10/13/2022

My 10 year old son has the adoptive trifecta of diagnoses: "on the autism spectrum", oppositional defiant disorder, and ADHD. Sometimes he has violent fits - although now they're down to 1 or 2...

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POST-DIVORCE PARENTING ISSUES

Posted on 9/21/2022

Some allegations that my daughter made about me to her school counselor and obviously and the allegations that were given to me in the report it states that my children’s father was coaching them....

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Keep It Simple

Posted on 7/13/2022

I’m a single mother of a 2.5 year old. Her father has never been in the picture at all. She’s starting to notice other kids have a dad and she doesn’t. How do I explain his absence to her and...

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DIVORCED DAD RUNNING THE USUAL SCAM

Posted on 7/2/2022

My 17 y/o daughter is from my first marriage. divorced when she was 3. Her stepdad and i have been married since she was 5. Long and short? We have done all of the parenting, all the tough...

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Drama feeds high conflict

Posted on 5/22/2022

I’ve spent the last 9 years of my sons life recovering from domestic abuse perpetrated by his father who has very narcissistic tendencies and defending my son, learning to ignore hurtful comments...

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