It's something every working mother fears, that her new or long-term babysitter or nanny could be neglectful or even abusive to her kids. Does the nanny leave the toddler alone in the den for hours while she is watching TV, on the phone or napping? Does she have a short...

No one expected the typically close-mouthed Barbra Steisand to share something so personal on Katie last month, the new TV talk show. But when Katie Couric asked her about the secret to her happy 14-year marriage to James Brolin, Barbra revealed her secret, without hesitation. Barbra and James spend time...

If you think being an agreeable mate is always a positive, think again. Does this argument sound familiar? Your mate asks, "What do you want to do for your birthday?" You answer, "Honey, whatever you want." Then you end up eating at the Italian Restaurant you absolutely hate, with your...

Now more than ever, unhappy couples are coming to my couples mediation office and emailing me for advice on how to save their financially wounded marriage. They aren't asking me for a job, rather they want to stop their fights about money, job loss and who is to blame for...

When answering the age-old question, "What do women want?" our new survey gave surprising results: It turns out that you can't buy love on Valentine's Day. This is certainly good news for relationships in a bad economy.

The online survey conducted by my firm, Laurie Puhn Communications, comes...

"There are two sides to every argument, until you take one," said Milton Berle. Whether you know it or not, smart people have dumb arguments about unimportant things. Rather than continuing to allow such arguments to stress us out and poke holes in our relationship, we can become "conflict-wise" by...

"I love my husband, but I don't like him." That's a comment I hear quite often in my couples mediation practice. Over the years, I discovered something: Many people are nicer to strangers than they are to their spouses.

The "liking" feeling tends to disappear as everyday job stress, parenting...

The holidays can be stressful. Do you and your mate find yourselves involved in more arguments than usual during the holiday season? Do you encounter acquaintances and family members who have the uncanny ability to push your buttons and get in your face, even though you set out to steer...

As Leo Tolstoy once said, "All happy families resemble one another; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way." We can smile at that quote or it can inspire us to ask ourselves some wise questions: What is it that happy families are doing? And, do my spouse and...

When a marriage is in trouble, the people in it are nit-pickers:

"He leaves his dirty laundry on the floor and expects me to pick it up. Not only am I not going to pick it up, I'm not even going to do his laundry! If he wants clean clothes,...

Oprah would often declare that being a stay-at-home mom is the hardest job in the world. She was dead on.

Recently, my husband, two kids and I took a vacation (within driving distance) for five nights by the beach. It was fantastic. Just the four of us spending family time...

With The New York Times reporting that Congressman Anthony Weiner's wife Huma Abedin is pregnant, the story of Weiner's online affairs has new legs. It seems like every day, there's a new touch that just makes the whole thing even worse.

Could Weiner's wrongdoing rival the 14 years...

Silence isn't always golden. It can be grating, isolating and downright hurtful. At its worst, a man's silence can push his leading lady into extreme behaviors that result in relationship failure. When there is a silent partner in the relationship, the following exchange will be familiar.

"Don't you have anything...

"I love her, but I'm not in love with her."

"We just grew apart."

"We have the same fight all the time."

"The relationship has run its course."

"The relationship is boring."

Many of these comments have been in the news lately as celebrities and politicians like Courteney Cox, Christina...

Your divorce came through. You are no longer sleeping with the enemy. Everything should be right in the world. And yet, with all of the insights and lessons you learned the first time around, here you are, stuck in new battles with Mate #2. What happened?

From my experiences as...

Does your current relationship feature recurring hot-tempered blow-ups? Did your past relationships? If so, you may have some of the common divorce-breeding verbal habits displayed by so many of my mediation clients. As a family lawyer, divorce and couples mediator and author of the national bestseller "Fight Less, Love More"...

As usual, the couple sitting in my office hated each other. They were obnoxious, rude and at times downright obscene. They were getting a divorce.

One year earlier, the husband came home from work early and went online. The web was open. His wife's Facebook page was visible. He saw...