Tag Archives: advice

The Thing About Advice on Motherhood: Too many cooks!

A dear friend recently wrote to me asking what I do about all of the advice and opinions people inevitably give when they see you with young children. She is a single mom dedicating her life to her sweet child, and everyone “shoving their oar in”, as it were, is distracting her from her main purpose: caring for her child the best way she can. Not to mention, too many people rowing the boat in different directions will only serve to make sure the boat isn’t going anywhere. (Hey! That must be the purpose of the metaphor!) read more

How to stop interference in your marriage

Since I’ve been married for five years now, I am officially a marriage veteran. We’ve got everything figured out. All joking aside, I have noticed some things cause unnecessary strife in a marriage, and there are easy ways to avoid them.

First and foremost, do not allow anyone to complain to you about your spouse. It is unhealthy and leads to you and an outsider to your marriage “ganging up” against your spouse. And, as always, you are probably only hearing one side of the story. If this person truly has an important issue to discuss with your spouse, then they should bring it up with your spouse, not whine about it to you. You and your spouse must present a united front to others. If someone starts complaining to you about your spouse, politely inform them that there is nothing you can do for them, and in the future to direct all complaints to the party in question. Don’t let others try to manipulate your spouse by appealing to the person most likely to influence their decisions, namely, you! read more