031: “I still wonder how my husband had the time and space to cheat on me.”
Release Date: 03/24/2020
44: “The whole family is walking on eggshells.”
Secrets of the Motherworld
“I would like to hear your thoughts on how parents can speak about the elephant in the room.
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43: “My daughter is overweight.”
Secrets of the Motherworld
My 13 year-old daughter is overweight and I don't know how to handle this.
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42: “It's the world that's crazy -- not us parents.”
Secrets of the Motherworld
“Hi Lisa and Stella. This is not so much of a question, but a warm and heartfelt THANK YOU. I think (hope!) that we're slowly getting to the end of some really tough years.
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41: “I don’t trust her decision making.”
Secrets of the Motherworld
A year ago when our ADD student daughter then aged 21 revealed to my husband and myself that she was on a waiting list to have cross sex treatment, our 16-year-old son took the role of her trans ally.
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40: “I know we should love the child we have and not wish them to be different but I can't help having these thoughts.”
Secrets of the Motherworld
“I worry that my boy is not very clever and I am secretly embarrassed and ashamed about this. My family is over-invested in achievement and especially educational achievement and the cousins' fabulous exam results are continuously talked about within our family WhatsApp. It is very distressing to feel ashamed of my boy who is both kind and funny. I'm not sure how I should navigate this - should I just declare that he isn't 'academic' and thereby lead the rest of the family to make insinuations that he is a bit stupid? Although I don't equate intelligence with...
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39: “My work has "juice" for me now while parenting just feels hard and draining.”
Secrets of the Motherworld
“I'm feeling incredibly disconnected from my kids right now.
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38: “My sense of disappointment feels selfish.”
Secrets of the Motherworld
“I'm a single mom and I've always worked full time while raising my kids. My youngest is graduating from high school this year and I've been anticipating the empty next stage of life with mixed emotions. I've known it will be tremendously sad, but at the same time, I'm looking forward to having more time to myself for the first time in over two decades. Now with the coronavirus, it looks possible that he won't be leaving for college in the fall and I am feeling very disappointed about this. I know he is disappointed as well. My sense of disappointment feels selfish. It's...
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37: “Now, with the Coronavirus, she won't have any of the ceremonial endings that seem important to her.”
Secrets of the Motherworld
“My 12 year-old is leaving school this year and now, with the Coronavirus, she won't have any of the ceremonial endings that seem to important to her.
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36: “We never told my parents.”
Secrets of the Motherworld
“I come from a close family. My parents have been involved in all aspects of my children’s lives and are extremely special to them. I have one adult sibling who has special needs and is cared for exclusively by my aging parents. At the time of his birth, it was common for children with special needs to be placed in an institution rather than raised at home."
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35: “Should I ask him if he’s still transgender?”
Secrets of the Motherworld
A year ago, my 16 year old son told us he is transgender. I was completely shocked, as he is not particularly feminine.
info_outline“I never thought this will happen to me. I had a family, we were not perfect together but it worked and we were good at raising our sons. I still wonder how my husband as a stay-home dad found the time and the space to cheat on me. He even brought the woman to my house under the excuse that they were working on an art project together, she was around our kids and met me! So many lies.... and I thought we had an honest relationship, that we were partners, I trusted him completely.
It's been 2 months since he moved out. For my youngest son the separation has brought some benefits, he is more independent and tantrums have improved, I think my husband was smothering him a bit, he could be overprotecting. For my oldest son it has been harder, he asks so many questions about what happened and I actually follow the advice I heard on this podcast about speaking with him about his father's affair. It helped him when I told the truth with a neutral stand, thanks for that episode!
They have a very close relationship with their father and sometimes I felt that I had to compete for the same kind of relationship with the kids, however the separation has allowed me to have the space at the end of the day to just enjoy each other’s company and build a different relationship than the one we use to have and I like that.
I try to keep in mind that they need their father since he has been very involved in their lives since they were babies but at the same time I have to make changes around the house and in our logistics because he simply doesn't live with us anymore.
It is very hard to overcome the betrayal, the hurt and the broken heart when you have to still see him and talk to him almost every day. I don't want to introduce massive changes in the kids’ lives but the truth is that I would just love not to see him anymore for the rest of my life. I know that this is not possible and every time I see him I feel that I take a step back in my process of continuing on with my life. I don't want to depend on him to take care of the kids while I work full time and I'm trying to take more time to find alternative solutions but is terrible hard for me. I do it for my sons because if it were for me I would banish him from my life for good today.”