Q: The other day my seven-year-old granddaughter said to me that I did not need to make cookies for her and her little brother every time they came over to our house. Actually, Grandma has said the same thing to me. “Charlie,” she said, “we can get cookies from the store any day of the […] Read more
Author Archives
Baking for grandparents a message of love
Should we know gender of unborn child?
Q: Last Friday evening my granddaughter’s friends put together a gender identity party for her. My granddaughter is five months pregnant. She and her boyfriend went for an ultrasound a few days ago but instead of telling them the results of the ultrasound, the technician put his findings into a sealed envelope to give to […] Read more
It’s not easy to stop smoking
Q: I am married to a smoker and I just hate it. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate my husband. He is in so many ways the most sensitive and caring man I have ever met. I simply hate his smoking. We have of course talked about smoking ad infinitum, and he always tells […] Read more
First-time recovery rate is low for substance abusers
Q: I am just sick about this whole thing. Shortly after my son-in-law was discharged from a residential drug and treatment program he went out and got drunk, yet again, just like he always did before we got him into the program. We thought that he was doing well in his program, and so did […] Read more
When Mom’s visit is too much
Q: I am not too sure what I am going to do about my Mom. She visits at least four times weekly and sometimes more. When she comes over, she seems to want to take over and start going after my children much as she did when I was a little girl. It is almost […] Read more
It’s not easy to stop a pathological liar
Q: I grew up in rural Canada where integrity was the norm and dishonest people were uncommon. I have struggled to come to grips with the diminution of this essential quality in today’s world and have recently encountered a disturbing example of this phenomena. A few years ago, we got new neighbours. It soon became […] Read more
Lack of child discipline often a failure of the social contract
Q: We have just returned from a week with our son and our daughter-in-law, including their three children, and I must admit that I am appalled. The language that those children use is out of this world. I might expect much the same from a longtime naval officer but not from 10-year-old children. It does […] Read more
Coping with teen depression
Q: I am very disappointed. We have just returned from a follow-up psychiatric appointment for our 14-year-old son. We were told by the psychiatrist that our son is clinically depressed. We knew that our son had a behaviour problem, which is why we made the appointment in the first place, but we were hoping that […] Read more
Retirement requires rewards
Q: I hope that you have some ideas for me. I retired last spring. I was 73. I guess that is a little later than it is for most guys who retire, but I never really worried about it. For the past 30 plus years I had been a parts man at one of our […] Read more
Impulsive behaviour can be controlled but not eliminated
Q: I have a problem that I suspect I share with a number of other people. My problem is that I am at times too impulsive. I once impulsively traded my car in for a new car that I did not need and wondered afterward why I had done that. I have any number of […] Read more
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