Blog

As parents, there can be a mix of emotions as your children age. It is exciting to watch them learn new skills and find new passions or interests. It can also be a sad time as you watch them grow and begin to move away from home. Dr. Chris Grace outlines 5 mistakes that parents often make as their children become more independent.

Is there a secret to relational happiness? What if there was a simple concept that could help protect your relationship? In this video, Dr. Tim Muehlhoff explains a concept that Dr. John Gottman calls the "happiness ratio." For every one of these interactions, there should be five other interactions between you. It sounds simple, but is it? Take a look!

When parents have children, interesting questions arise: how will you teach your children life lessons? Will they learn as you model things for them? Will you need to explain how to behave or how to listen? In this article, author Arlene Pellicane writes on this topic, to encourage parents to think about how to launch adults as opposed to babysitting children. What do you think of her approach?

What in the world is emotional tennis? When was the last time your partner made an emotional bid for your attention and you responded appropriately? Was it at the end of a long day and you unloaded the stress of the day? Was it an insecurity that your spouse shared with you and gave you the chance to affirm them? In this video, Dr. Chris and Alisa Grace talk about how important these small bids for attention and affection can be to a relationship!

Dear CMR,

My wife and I have been happily married for four years now and have been encouraged to attend marriage retreats or counseling. We don't have any big issues going on, so what is the point of going to counseling or on a retreat?

Happy Husband

Have you come across a situation in which a person has a habit of making promises to you but never following through? It can be painful to depend on those promises, only to see them never come to life. What do you do in a situation like this? How do you interact with this person, to ensure the promises do not continue to be unfulfilled? 

Are you having an affair? When Dr. Tim Muehlhoff asks this question to people, often times people are taken aback. How could you assume I might be having an affair? What he suggests here is that there are different kinds of affairs that can pull you away from your spouse. They aren't as obvious as you might think! Once you watch the video, does the question reach into areas that you had not considered before?