Dear Shaunti, I recently read For Women Only and I now realize how important it is for my husband to know I respect him – which I do. But I come from a long line of “strong women” (as my dad puts it) and none of us is afraid to voice an opinion. Including telling our husbands how to do things, like what to do with the kids while we’re out for a few hours, or the most efficient route... Read more
Dear Shaunti, My 17 year-old son has a great sense of humor, and is fun to be around, but he doesn’t have a lot of confidence with girls because he’s self-conscious about his looks. (Of course, I think he’s adorable but he says that doesn’t count.) He says the girls at school only want to talk to the football players, so he doesn’t approach them. I can tell it bothers him, but he just laughs it off. He is such... Read more
Dear Shaunti, I am SO DONE with my husband’s grumpiness when he gets home from work. He is a radiologist and has told me that it is really hard to be interrupted with family and kid stuff at work, so I try really hard not to. But when I try to talk to him when he gets home, he gets ticked! I wait all day to discuss this stuff and then he walks in the door and blows me off!... Read more
Dear Shaunti, It makes me insane when my husband doesn’t ask for directions. Last weekend we were meeting friends at a new restaurant and I got the cold sweats while I watched the minutes tick by as my husband tried to guess his way there. And what’s crazy is that we have a GPS in the car! I started it up but he got irritated and told me stop hassling him. And then I got irritated and told him he was being unreasonable… and he shut down the rest of the night. How can I make him understand that asking for directions is no big deal? Read more
Dear Shaunti, My daughter is 15 years old and I am worried that she is starting to push away not just from her dad and me but also from some of the beliefs we hold dear. What should we do? – Concerned about wandering Dear Concerned about wandering, This is definitely a sensitive subject and it touches on that very strong need in teens for freedom while at the same time creating a sense of fear in parents. We want... Read more
Dear Shaunti, I am constantly butting heads with my 14 year-old daughter. Yesterday, she asked if she could go to a concert with a group of kids that I don’t know. With her friend’s 16 year-old brother as the driver! I said “no” to that idea before she even finished talking! She’s been pouting ever since. She complains that I have too many “arbitrary” rules and don’t explain myself. I tell her the fact that I’m her dad is the... Read more
Dear Shaunti, My 16-year-old son came home an hour past curfew over the weekend – walked in like it was no big deal! “Hey, sorry my battery was dead so I couldn’t text you.” And then when he saw how upset we were he was like, “It was only an hour!” We said, “Yeah, well, that was an hour we spent wondering if you were in a ditch somewhere!” We took away his car privileges for two weeks and he... Read more
Dear Shaunti, We have young kids, and often I’m so exhausted that I just want to go to sleep without my husband trying to start something. Most of the time I have absolutely no interest in sex late at night, after running afternoon carpool, juggling karate and ballet lessons, making dinner, helping with homework (my husband helps too), and returning work emails. But my husband gets upset when I tell him to please leave me alone. Seriously? It’s nothing personal!... Read more
Dear Shaunti, Undoubtedly, the most effective punishment for my teenage daughter is taking away her cell phone. There’s just one little problem: she freaks out when I do. I’m certain I’d get less of a freak-out if I ordered her to sleep in a box in the yard for a week (hmmm…) What’s her deal? It’s not like she doesn’t see these kids in school! I’ll sign this letter with the name I’m best known for around the house these... Read more
Dear Shaunti, I just got out of a big meeting where one of my male co-workers got super annoyed with me and I don’t know why. We’re trying to land a big contract and he was presenting his strategy to the group and our boss. A couple of times, I politely asked why he came to a particular decision, so he could explain it. I felt like everyone would benefit from the clarification. But the last time I asked why... Read more
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