When silence is used to manage conflict in an intimate partnership, misunderstanding and increased emotional distance are likely. Stonewalling in relationships can also cause one or both partners to experience anxiety or depression, and may lead ultimately to separation.
Technology enables moms to multitask more easily but more is expected of modern parents. Even in households espousing gender equality, women tend to take on more of the childcare and household responsibilities, as well as the corresponding mental load. Dads can ease this burden by taking more initiative and following through.
Being on your phone instead of listening when your partner is speaking as well using phones and cameras to monitor your partner’s activities are examples of how technology enters relationships. Our phones and other devices can interfere with intimacy and also help us avoid difficult conversations.
Motherhood is often not what we understood or imagined it would be based upon our observations of our own mothers. While growing up, we often failed to see the behind the scenes work and effort that we now experience first hand.
We need to believe in our relationships that we are truly loved for who we are, at the core of who we are. A love that is founded on money, prestige or power is a relationship lacking trust at its foundation. By contrast, a relationship in which we feel that our partner sees all, accepts all and loves all is rooted in trust.
Triangulation occurs whenever a third person intervenes or is drawn into a conflict between two individuals. The third person may become part of the situation unwittingly, may make a conscious choice to intervene, or may be drawn in skillfully by one of the two people who had the original disagreement.
