Family Dynamics Blogs

Discover the best independent blogs about family dynamics on BlogRolly.

• A Debt Collector Called About My Dead Spouse’s Debt. Here’s What You Actually Owe (and What You Don’t). — Grieving and getting calls from debt collectors? I show exactly what family owes after death, when the estate pays debts
• Parent Died With No Will and No Instructions: The Financial Emergency Checklist (First 30 Days) — Collectors already calling after your parent died with no will? This first 30 days financial emergency checklist lays ou
• Mom (or Dad) Died With Credit Card Debt. You Probably Don’t Owe It — Here’s Exactly Why — Collectors call fast after a death. I've helped families since 1994 and I know the panic when a collector says your pare
• Debt After Death: The Complete Family Guide to What You Actually Owe — Facing calls from collectors after a death is brutal. In this family guide to debt after death I lay out what you actual
• Prepare Your Relationship for New Baby — Worried about how a baby will change your marriage? Here are 5 things to consider to prepare your relationship for new b
• I made a dead box so my family wouldn’t be left guessing — What if your family had to find every account after you were gone? I built a dead box in 2018 so they would not be left
• How “Men Suck” Messes Everybody Up — Ever wondered how 'men suck' affects teens and family dynamics? In this Scarleteen Confidential column I unpack how that
• What I Didn’t Know About Having a Queer Daughter — Surprise: my kid told me she was queer in 7th grade. In this personal essay I talk about parenting a queer daughter, han
• Peppermint Piece: Vietnam and the Meatloaf — An intimate excerpt from my memoir Peppermint about Vietnam, the draft lottery and a brutally bad meatloaf. I tell how m
• The Meatloaf: Peppermint Piece — A gray slab of meatloaf and soggy fries set the scene for lottery daydreams at the dinner table. I revisit a dinner time
• Computing, Convivially — What if a computer could be a bicycle for the mind? Through anecdotes about teaching kids to use computers, my daughters
• The Last Mourner — Who last visited Annie Elizabeth Jones' grave? In this post I trace a Victorian photograph, the ceramic immortelles and
• The price of fame; Joyce and Ronald McQueen, Manor Park Cemetery and Crematorium — What happens when fame and family grief collide? I tell how Joyce and Ronald McQueen's funeral plans at Manor Park Cemet
• Where The Story Begins — A photobook of a multicultural marriage, 32 colour photographs across 56 pages. In late 2018 I married my partner from T
• Nine months of parenting — Nine months of parenting felt like both a small triumph and a tide of exhaustion. After N.'s birth I noticed big shifts
• The Waves Take You Home — A love letter to a family restaurant and the ache of belonging. In my review of The Waves Take You Home I follow Vi from
• The New Top Baby Names of Every US State — I break down the top baby names in every U.S. state, highlighting regional quirks and surprises where tradition holds ti
• Is Your Baby Name Too Old for Grandma? — I look at when a name feels “too old” and how that cycle resets. Why vintage baby names swing between outmoded and back-
• These ’50s and ’60s Names are Showing Signs of Life — I revisit the golden age of baby naming the 1950s and ’60s when Mary, Susan, and Michael shaped generations. A nostalgic
• Dutch term – Paus — Tracing Dutch records and stumbled on “paus”? I unpack how this word shows up in church registers and historical documen
• 8 Ways To Find Your Ancestor’s Emigration Date — Trying to pin down when an ancestor left the Netherlands? I walk through practical ways to find an emigration date using
• Dutch term – Openbaarheidsbeperking — Some Dutch archives come with an openbaarheidsbeperking a restriction on public access. I explain what that means for ge
• The lice incident. — The day started normal and ended with me questioning everything about cleanliness, parenting, and the fine line between
• We Write A Poem — We sit down together and make a poem out of the day—family life, ordinary magic, and the mess of shared creativity. A do
• Mexico City: The Caravan: Family Values — I’m writing about families I saw and spoke with during the caravan’s arrival in Mexico City. It’s a quiet reflection on
• Family Tree — Food is the only inheritance that never gets lost. I trace family through recipes, kitchen habits, and what gets passed
• Keeping it in the family — Intergenerational trauma unpacking: mother's perfectionism echoes in own parenting. Therapy breaks cycle through conscio
• Best Ways To Show Someone You Care — A friendly guide to showing people you care through words, small acts of service, thoughtful gifts, and quality time. It
• Father of none — Childfree choice reflection amid friends' baby boom. Freedom's tradeoffs weighed honestly no legacy pressure, just prese
• An invitation to tea — Unexpected tea with estranged aunt yields family secrets, forgiveness hints. Awkward civility cracks open buried histori
• Remembrances in the rain — Graveside eulogy in downpour: mother's umbrella, father's last fishing story. Rain mixes tears, memory, unresolved grief
• Man down — ICU vigil for father: machines beeping, hand-holding, facing mortality. Fragile humanity strips away pretenses in steril
• Pain has been my teacher, but could love be my teacher too? — Garden harvest joy: first tomatoes ripen after patient tending. Simple satisfaction pulling weeds, tasting summer's quie
• A Woman is no Man — "A Woman Is No Man" adaptation review. Palestinian-American novel on family, patriarchy, secrecy. Explores immigrant exp
• Parenting, Part Deux — Second‑time parenting wisdom: less anxiety, more presence. Toddlers demand flexibility; perfect routines crumble against