Parenting

So it’s Mother’s Day this weekend and since my last blog was about (divorced) fathers, I thought I’d take a moment to talk about mother’s relationships with her daughter(s). Do daughters and mothers describe their relationship as pleasantly interdependent and supportive or overbearing with too many phone calls? Not that I’m personalizing…really.

The finding that mature rats exposed to classical odor-shock conditioning soon learn to avoid the odor as a way of also avoiding the shock certainly qualifies for the school of the blooming obvious. What is less apparent, and in fact little known, is that rat pups show “paradoxical learning;” pups still confined to the nest show a strong odor preference in this classical training paradigm. This attraction to anything, even pain, occurs regardless of maternal presence.

It seems that celebrity fathers are all the rage in the news lately (sorry, couldn’t help it). But then I thought back to my own childhood and realized that starting around twelve years old I had some nasty fights of my own with my beloved dad- and my parents are still married. What does the research on divorced dads tell us about the circumstances and how/why they occur?

Relationships early in life can effect the emotions you experience in romantic relationship later in life. Find out more.

Of course arguing is a natural and normal component of spending a life with someone. But frequent nastiness is not. When is it too much- too often? When should you and your partner think about accessing resources? And what do other couples go to therapy for anyway (you might find you are not such a uniquely complicated and unhappy couple after all).