Coaching Your Family Relationships

Ask a question, send us a message, or let us know how you like the podcast Episode 224 - Why Adult Children Go No Contact: Understanding Family Estrangement, with Dr. Rin Reczek Are you wondering why your adult child went no contact, pulled away, or says they need space from the family? This episode will help you understand family estrangement without getting stuck in blame, shame, or panic. Famil...

Ask a question, send us a message, or let us know how you like the podcast Episode 223: When Someone You Love Hurts You: How to Regain Emotional Stability Have you ever been doing something completely ordinary—loading the dishwasher, making dinner, driving home—and then one text, one comment, one moment of distance hits you so hard it feels like the air leaves your body? That’s the “emotional gut...

Ask a question, send us a message, or let us know how you like the podcast Episode 222:  When Love Feels Like Pressure: The Hidden Conflict in Helping Too Much  What if the very thing you are doing to keep the relationship close is the thing creating more distance? As parents, we often help because we love. We give advice, offer solutions, send resources, ask questions, check in, and try to preven...

Ask a question, send us a message, or let us know how you like the podcast Episode 221 - Hidden Conflict: Why Your Family Feels Tense Even When No One is Fighting What if your family relationship feels tense, distant, or uncomfortable, but you can’t point to one big argument or obvious conflict? Many parents assume that conflict means yelling, fighting, blow-ups, or harsh words. But some of the mo...

Ask a question, send us a message, or let us know how you like the podcast Episode 220 : Grandfatherhood and Legacy: How to Be Involved Without Interfering What kind of presence do you bring into your family? When you walk into a room, do people relax, or do they brace? Do your adult children feel supported by you, or do they feel like they have to manage your reactions? Do your grandchildren expe...

Ask a question, send us a message, or let us know how you like the podcast Episode 219: Fatherhood After Your Kids Grow Up: Who Are You to Them Now? What happens to fatherhood after your children grow up? When your adult child has a hard day, who do they call? Do they call you, or do they turn to their mom, a friend, a sibling, or someone else? If the honest answer hurts a little, this episode is...

Ask a question, send us a message, or let us know how you like the podcast Episode 218: How to Focus on What You Can Control When Family Relationships Are Hard When a relationship is strained, it’s so tempting to think: If I say it the right way… if I do enough… if I stay kind enough… then they’ll finally respond the way I need them to. But the truth is, you can’t control what someone else thinks,...

Ask a question, send us a message, or let us know how you like the podcast Episode 127 - Lazy or Stuck? Why Your Adult Child Avoids Life and How to Respond If you’re staring at a “failure to launch” situation and thinking, “Are they lazy… or are they stuck?” — you’re not alone. When an adult child avoids responsibility, avoids work, or keeps waiting for rescue, it can feel confusing and infuriatin...

Ask a question, send us a message, or let us know how you like the podcast Episode 216 - Boundaries with Your Adult Child: Stepping Back When You're Used to Being Needed If you're a parent of an adult child and you're still worrying, managing, advising, and rescuing — this episode is for you. Today we're diving deep into the over-functioning parent dynamic: what it is, why it h...

Ask a question, send us a message, or let us know how you like the podcast When Mother’s Day Isn’t Happy: Naming the Grief No One Sees Mother’s Day is everywhere. Flowers at the grocery store, brunch photos, smiling cards, and you are doing your best to hold it together while something inside you feels heavy.  Maybe your adult child is distant. Maybe the relationship is strained. Maybe they will t...

Ask a question, send us a message, or let us know how you like the podcast Episode 214: When Your Adult Child Chooses Their Spouse Over You: How to Stay Grounded Part 5 in the Series: How To Deal with Your Adult Child's Difficult Spouse What if the goal was never to fix your family… but to become steady inside it? If you’ve been walking on eggshells with your adult child, feeling pulled betwe...

Ask a question, send us a message, or let us know how you like the podcast Episode 213 - You Can't Fix Your Adult Child's Marriage: When You Feel Powerless, part 4 of the series about your adult child's difficult spouse. If you’ve tried everything—rewriting texts, walking on eggshells, apologizing for things you’re not sure you did—and the relationship still feels strained, this epi...

Ask a question, send us a message, or let us know how you like the podcast Episode 212: When Your Adult Child's Spouse is Controlling, Critical, or Cold - This is What's Actually Happening Anxiety doesn't always look like worry and stress. In families, it will often look like controlling, critical, or cold behavior.  If you've been following this series, you've heard me ta...

Ask a question, send us a message, or let us know how you like the podcast When Your Adult Child’s Spouse Misunderstands You: Stop Defending Yourself and Stay Calm (Part 3) You read the message… and your chest tightens. “That’s not what I meant.” You start typing. Explaining. Replaying the moment in your head. Because you weren’t trying to hurt anyone. You were trying to be thoughtful. And yet som...

Ask a question, send us a message, or let us know how you like the podcast Episode 210 - Stop Blaming Yourself: When Your Adult Child’s Spouse is Anxious or Difficult, part 2  Have you ever left a visit with your adult child and their spouse thinking, “Nothing big happened… so why do I feel awful?” If their spouse is tense, easily offended, or hard to read, many parents slide into a painful patter...

Ask a question, send us a message, or let us know how you like the podcast Episode 209 - How to Deal with Your Adult Child's Difficult Spouse, part 1 When your adult child marries someone who brings a lot of anxiety into the family system, everything can start to feel… tense. Gatherings feel loaded. Conversations feel risky. And you can’t even explain why —you just know the vibe has changed....

Ask a question, send us a message, or let us know how you like the podcast Episode 208: When “Good Behavior” Comes at a Cost: How Behavior-Focused Parenting Disconnects Families Are you wondering why your adult child won’t talk to you —even though they always seemed like the “easy one” growing up? In this episode, we explore how parenting that focuses only on behavior—obedience, manners, doing the...

Ask a question, send us a message, or let us know how you like the podcast Episode 207 - Family Reactivity and Anxiety: Why Your Relationship Feels Stuck  Do you feel stuck in painful cycles of family conflict and emotional reactions? Maybe you feel like you are walking on eggshells around your child. Or maybe your emotions take over, and you say things you later wish you had handled differently....

Ask a question, send us a message, or let us know how you like the podcast Episode 206: Parenting Adult Children Today with Catherine Hickem Are you parenting your adult children with the same mindset you had when they were little? It might be time for a shift. In this powerful episode, I'm joined by Catherine Hickem , a licensed therapist and founder of Parenting Adult Children Today . We ta...

Ask a question, send us a message, or let us know how you like the podcast Episode 205:  How to Reconnect with an Estranged Adult Child by Calming Your Righting Reflex     What if the harder you try to help your adult child, the more they pull away?  In this episode, we talk about why your adult child won’t talk to you, how our child-centered parenting culture has increased anxiety for both parent...

Ask a question, send us a message, or let us know how you like the podcast Episode 204: Why Won’t My Adult Child Talk to Me? An Unhelpful Question If you’re lying awake asking yourself, “Why won’t my adult child talk to me?” you are not alone. This question sits at the heart of so much pain for parents navigating emotional distance from adult children. Many parents feel rejected, confused, and exh...

Ask a question, send us a message, or let us know how you like the podcast Episode 203: "Why Won't My Adult Child Talk to Me?" The False Comfort of AI Answers If you’ve ever typed “why won’t my adult child talk to me” into Google at 2 a.m., hoping for clarity or comfort, you’re not alone. Many parents experiencing estrangement from adult children are turning to AI tools for support—...

Ask a question, send us a message, or let us know how you like the podcast Episode 202: Don’t Wait Until They’re Gone: Seeing the Sacred in the People Right in Front of You We save our kindest words for funerals. We use the good dishes for guests. We wait until life feels “special enough” to start really living. But what if every moment and every person were already sacred? In this final episode o...

Ask a question, send us a message, or let us know how you like the podcast Episode 201: Powerful Lessons to Carry Into the New Year – Listener Favorites from 2025  Are you ready to start the new year with strength, clarity, and hope? In this special compilation episode, I’m bringing you highlights from four of the most impactful and talked-about episodes of 2025. These conversations struck a deep...

Ask a question, send us a message, or let us know how you like the podcast Episode 200 - Why Gratitude Changes Everything: Abundance, Joy, and Healing in Family Life  In today’s episode of the Finding Joy Series , Tina dives deep into one of the most powerful emotional tools available to us—gratitude. This isn’t the shallow “write three things” gratitude list you’ve heard a thousand times. Instead...