The Perfect Family Storm: Tips to Restore Mental Health and Strengthen Family Relationships in Today's World - Softcover

Reimers PH.D, Cathy L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1504336313 ISBN 13: 9781504336314

Verlag: BalboaPress, 2015

Inhaltsangabe

Do you feel overwhelmed as you watch your child, teen, adult child-or even yourself-spiral out of control? Is your family being torn apart by stress? Are your family's relationships drowning in a flood of technology? In The Perfect Family Storm: Tips to Restore Mental Health and Strengthen Family Relationships in Today's World, Dr. Cathy Reimers offers compassion, expert advice, and concrete strategies to help families navigate the current challenges of divorce, technology, addiction, violence, mental health problems, and more. As you seek a safe port in The Perfect Family Storm, this book will be your anchor. Reading it will be your first step in regaining control of your life, strengthening relationships in your family, and discovering the truth behind your behavior, leading to inner peace. This book will help you and your family members to: * protect your child from violence, porn, and bullying; * break Internet, cell phone, alcohol, drug, cutting, food, and overspending addictions; * manage the impact of divorce on you and your children; * identify what type of parent you are; * prevent dishonesty, promiscuousness, and outofcontrol behavior in your child; * learn how pets can be a barometer for family dysfunction; and * identify mental health issues and their relationship to family stress.

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The Perfect Family Storm

Tips to Restore Mental Health and Strengthen Family Relationships in Today's World

By Cathy L. Reimers

Balboa Press

Copyright © 2015 Cathy L. Reimers, PH.D.
All rights reserved.

ISBN: 978-1-5043-3631-4

Contents

Introduction, ix, 
Chapter 1 Is This Your Family?, 1, 
Chapter 2 Storms of Violence, 23, 
Chapter 3 The Tidal Wave of Technology's Addiction, 39, 
Chapter 4 The Brutal Storm of Divorce, 56, 
Chapter 5 A Family's Blizzard of Drugs, 69, 
Chapter 6 The Storms of Dishonesty, Rootlessness, And Promiscuity, 85, 
Chapter 7 The Family's Financial Storm, 99, 
Chapter 8 The Whirlwind in the Classroom, 118, 
Chapter 9 The Storm That Gains Velocity — the Power of the Child, 130, 
Chapter 10 The Force of Parenting Paradigms, 150, 
Chapter 11 The Deluge of Mental Health Issues, 175, 
Chapter 12 Pets Get Caught in the Perfect Family Storm, 210, 
Epilogue The Family Storms are Perfect, 223, 

CHAPTER 1

Is this Your Family?

In the following story, we follow a "normal" American family during their average weekday. Sam and Debbie are raising three children: Lauren, Connor, and Gracie. Sam works in the high-tech industry and is a successful businessman whose work keeps him on the road and away from his family. Debbie works part time on the weekends as a hairdresser. Lauren is seventeen, a senior in high school, and Connor is fourteen, a freshman in high school. Gracie, the youngest in the family, is twelve and is in sixth grade.

Ten More Minutes

7:30 a.m.

Debbie awakens with dreadful thoughts of what the day will bring. Will she be able to survive another fight with Gracie? What will Lauren ask for today, new jeans or a new purse? Connor creeps into her thoughts next. What new technique can she come up with to get him off the computer without World War III erupting? She draws a blank.

Her thoughts shift, and she imagines herself sipping a glass of wine in the late evening hours. For a moment she feels peaceful ... until she looks over at the empty pillow next to her. Sam left for work at the crack of dawn. The depth of her loneliness creeps in. Sam is never around, always working, working, working ...

Her thoughts are interrupted by the ranting and raving of Lauren's shrill voice.

"Get up, you lazy brat! You're not going to make us late for school again. Damn it, Mom, do something! You let her get away with murder."

"Mom," Gracie yells back, "Lauren hit me with my pillow and threw my blankets on the floor. I don't have to do what she says. She's not my mother!"

"Yes, Gracie," Debbie calls back as she gets out of bed and starts down the stairs to begin making breakfast, "but you do have to get dressed, honey."

Only Lauren makes it downstairs for breakfast, and the whole time she's eating, she complains about how long Gracie takes to get ready. Debbie stares at the eggs and bacon she made for four people, most of which is now going to waste. Debbie herself is too sad and anxious to even want to eat.

"Gracie get down here now!" Debbie finally calls upstairs after Lauren complains for the tenth time that she's going to be late for school and stomps to the garage to wait in the car. "I'm starting to lose my temper. This is the fifth time I asked you to come down." It's a battle every morning to get Gracie out of the house. "Your sister is already outside, and we're leaving in five minutes. Have you seen my keys? Tell your brother to get in here and help me find them. Connor, where are you? You're not still on the computer, are you? Get down here and help me!"

Gracie hands her the keys just as Connor shows up in the kitchen. Where they were hiding is a mystery to Debbie, and before Debbie can ask, her daughter yells, "Connor has my lunch and he says he's going to take my Rice Krispies treat!"

Gracie punches Connor in the arm and throws her math book at him. Connor holds Gracie's lunch bag over her head.

Lauren comes back from the garage. "Look, Mom, we have to be at school in ten minutes. I can't be late for my first period because we have a history test this morning. Please! Gracie! It's all your fault if I get an F! I hate this house! I hate this family! I can't wait to move out."

A heavy, familiar smell fills the air as Debbie tries to usher all three kids through the living room and toward the garage. "Damn it, Connor! I told you to take that dog out this morning! He just peed on the rug. Clean it up before we leave."

The commotion excites the dog and he starts barking, running around the house, and jumping on the kids. Then he pees on the carpet again.

"I'm not cleaning it up. He's not my dog! I didn't even want a dog. Gracie, you do it."

"Hurry, hurry, come on everybody, let's go!" Debbie says, getting the kids out the door. The dog pee will have to wait. "Your sister can't be late." She sits in the driver's seat. "Buckle up. Oh my God, damn it! Where are my glasses? Connor, run back into the house and get my glasses, please. They're on the kitchen counter!"

"Tell Gracie to do it," Connor says. "She's the one making us late."

"I'm not doing it," Gracie says. "I didn't forget them."

"God, I'll do it myself!" Debbie yells as she gets out, slamming the car door into the garage workbench.

"Dad's gonna get mad about you banging the car up again," Connor says, when Debbie returns with her glasses — which happened to be upstairs in her bedroom on her nightstand.

Finally, they pull out of the driveway. After thirty seconds of wonderful silence, Connor says, "My lunch! It's by the front door!"

"Mom, you're not going to go back, are you?" says Lauren.

Debbie sighs and turns the car around to get the lunch. Afterward, as she speeds to the middle school, Gracie starts to cry hysterically.

"What's wrong, Gracie?" Lauren asks.

"My science project! I forgot it in the garage. My teacher said if I don't bring it today, I'll get an F. It was really due yesterday."

"I told you to put it in the car last night so you wouldn't forget it!" Debbie says. "I'll bring it back later and leave it in the office."

"You stupid idiot, you forget everything!" Lauren says.

"Don't talk to your sister that way. Please don't call each other names. I can't stand it. You're the oldest; you're supposed to be setting an example. Please, Lauren, try to help me out here. Connor, what are you doing? Please answer me when I talk to you. Turn off your phone before I take it away. Don't take that to school again — if it gets stolen, I'm not buying you a new one."

"He loses everything and you still buy him new things," Lauren says. "Oh, by the way, Mom, don't forget to pick up my nail polish after cheerleading practice. And I need to stop by the mall to buy some more jeans."

"You don't need another pair of jeans," Debbie says. She feels like she says this every day.

8:30 a.m.

When Debbie comes home, the dog pee is waiting for her. The breakfast dishes are on the table instead of in the sink, where she asked the kids to put them. The water in the bathroom sink is running, every light in the house is on, and the kitchen cupboards are wide open.

She tells herself that right after she cleans everything, she'll take Gracie's science project to school. But, she forgets.

11:00 a.m.

"This is the school nurse," Debbie hears when she answers the phone. "We have Gracie here in the nurse's office. She says she has a stomachache and she...

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: BalboaPress
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2015
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 1504336313
• ISBN 13: 9781504336314
• Einband: Taschenbuch
• Anzahl der Seiten: 244
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: KreGa Onlinehandel GmbH; 4950000000000; info@krega-onlinehandel.de; ; Birkenweg 31; Brakel; 33034; Deutschland