Encouragement influences adult children more than criticism and concern.

You don’t find deep love by fishing for it on the surface.

Blended families need to work at “blending,” especially when living together.

Plan your future around your goals and dreams, not other people’s worries and fears. 

If early dating’s going very well, don’t try to slap a label on it too soon.

Old patterns are an unhealthy step backwards and should be avoided.

When violence and intimidation rule, get legal counsel to strengthen your resolve to leave. 

“Solving” a marital sex problem with a guilt-ridden affair, creates new problems.

Choosing virginity requires seeking like-minded mates, and comfort with your convictions.

Getting “over” someone takes determination, confidence, and support.

Plans from a self-serving friend need advance scrutiny.

Push the ‘Friend-Zone’ too far and too fast, and you risk losing it altogether.

Suspicious? Ask questions, confront, state your feelings, AND your limits.

Dealing with grief after years of anger requires a process of therapy.

Don’t get conned into thinking you’re “distrustful,” when you have good reasons to stall a relationship.

When home’s a battlefield, with your partner on the other side, try a break and counselling to effect changes.

When a close friend is lost to a relationship, keep a watch for danger signs like isolation.

A practiced player has no loyalty to anyone, including you.

Significant secrets build walls between couples, preventing true intimacy.

Avoid a lecherous relative at all costs.

Show an immature, self-serving spouse your adult reaction, including your options.

Divorced parents of youngsters need to feel trust and stability before cohabitating again.

Resolving one disagreement doesn’t change underlying anger and resentment.

When an ex tells nasty tales, try to avoid rather than counter-attack. 

Leave chaos, take some time, and then assess any chance for stability.

A past love often provides the important life lessons towards a lasting relationship ahead.

If airing secrets can devastate an innocent party, find a private way to vent.

Once an emotional rat’s revealed, no cover changes his/her true nature. 

When relationships fail from similar patterns, seek professional insight into why you’ve accepted situations bound to hurt you.

Prior to a whirlwind marriage, the handling of personal finances should be agreed, and legally protected.

Another’s infidelity sometimes causes self-examination of your own values and responses.

You can’t force mental health help, but you can offer choices or make your own. 

When a predator’s reaching out, the target partner should make rejection clear.

When one person controls the intimacy, the relationship’s in trouble.

To try to maintain family connections, show compassion for a pregnant daughter-in-law’s anxieties.

Helping an “abandoned child” overcome hurt and loss, is a priority. 

There aren’t any “no-fault” excuses for infidelity if both parties don’t agree.

Age doesn’t matter as much as honesty.

If intent on an affair, be prepared for the fallout on your kids, and your responsibility to help them through it. 

Healing from abuse calls for professional counseling, caring support, and personal determination.

It takes time to get to know a new person. Rushing it is usually a mistake.

Grandparent Guideline: Know that coolness towards the parent can cost your connection to the child.

To end a drink-till-drunk habit, partners must recognize it as an addiction and get help/support.

No matter what you come from, your successes partly came from what, and from whom, you learned.

If feelings grow between “Friends with Benefits,” you both need to acknowledge and deal with it.

When repeated lies and deceptions become apparent, run!

Bullying affects all children, so long as it’s ignored and allowed to persist.

Wishing all a healthy, loving 2013 laced with laughter.

Dysfunctional relationships don’t get better from just wishing it so.

Staying involved with a lover during years of marriage is emotional bigamy.