My husband and I were hanging new window blinds late on a Friday afternoon. Why we picked Friday after work to hang the blinds remains a mystery, but it is accurate to say that the project wasn't going very well when I suggested, "Should we ask a neighbor to come...

When I was four years old, our phone rang one evening and a woman on the phone asked for my father. I was a very late-in-life child -- my parents had married after a complicated ten-year courtship. The woman caller identified herself as my father's daughter -- a daughter he...

It was bound to happen -- you are facing Valentine's Day as a newly separated adult and you don't quite know what to do with yourself. The good thing is that you no longer have to stand in front of the display of Valentine cards and try to find one...

Where did 2012 go? It's almost Thanksgiving, and holiday decorations, wrappings and sales are abound. With the holidays come great anxiety for separating families, especially those newly separated parents who are feeling worried, guilty and cash-strapped for their first holiday in two houses.

In my twelve years at

I had the privilege recently of attending an anti-bullying conference sponsored by the U.S. Attorney's office. I came away from the conference a true believer in the close relationship between bullying and the childhood difficulties caused by parental separation.

The first person I met at the conference was an assistant...

One of my memorable claims to fame as a parent was following the school bus on my five-year-old twin' daughters first day of Kindergarten. Our family lived in a semi-rural area with isolated roads where drivers regularly exceeded the speed limit. Sure enough, on that very special and important morning,...

All eyes worldwide are on London for the 2012 summer Olympic Games. I thought this might be an opportune time to examine divorce -- British style. London has been called the divorce capital of the world. What better time to call on noted "Agony Aunt"...

San Francisco is in the news again, and unfortunately for the wrong reasons. It's amazing that this spectacular community, with its vibrant and creative energy, seems to occasionally lose its equilibrium -- and I'm not talking about earthquakes.

A high-profile public official pleaded guilty to a charge...

There has been tremendous interest in the phenomenon of the movie "The Artist." The chatter about "The Artist" in the media expresses a curiosity about how and why a silent film appeals to a contemporary audience. Even "Hugo" is a celebration of the silent screen. Some of this speculation occurred...

What a start to 2012 -- it seems that celebrity divorces are occurring so frequently that we can hardly keep up. The provocative tabloid divorce headlines grab our attention on the internet, in the grocery check-out line, and even on the news. As these separations are played out on the...

It's that time of year -- Halloween candy has been eaten, turkeys are on sale, Christmas and Hanukkah decorations are in the stores, the Nutcracker is playing -- and the collective anxiety in separated families begins while the holiday celebration plans develop. I am continually amazed at the lack of...

In 2004, Kids' Turn made a decision to develop a Grandparent Seminar helping grandparents support their grandchildren during parental separation. We were fielding regular inquiries from grandparents who were helping their adult children financially by paying for school expenses, childcare, transportation, tennis shoes, sports lessons and other kid-related expenses when...

Empathy is a popular topic these days. Depending on who you read or listen to, empathy can sooth relationships, calm hostility, and, even on a global scale, prevent wars. Using divorce or separation as an opportunity to practice empathy is contrary to a life experience generally associated with a scorched...

In the 1990s, I was the owner and operator of a private preschool and Kindergarten in a resort community. There was couple who brought their two year old son, Joey, to us five days each week, and as time went on, an unusual family dynamic began to evolve. The mother,...

In an age where celebrity divorces stimulate public interest daily, I would like to pose a question to readers. Why don't divorce services 'get no respect?'

Divorce and separation affects 50% of all children in the United States before they reach the age of eighteen. This figure does not include...

I spent a few hours on a recent Sunday listening to a friend, a highly accomplished San Francisco Police Officer and single father, struggle with some challenges related to the ongoing conflict between him and his ex-wife--conflict intensified by the fact their two teen-age children are smack in the middle...

Since 1988, Kids' Turn has been listening to the voices of children as they express their problems when their parents divorce. Based on their comments, here are the top five admonitions from children on which separating parents can build new behaviors during 2011.

Stop fighting in front...