Making the Holidays Magical for Your Children After a Divorce With Dr. Kathryn Smerling

Katherine Miller — Fri, 03 Dec 2021 23:54:47 +0000

EP: 165

Dr. Kathryn Smerling

Making the Holidays Magical for Your Children After a Divorce

Divorce Dialogues · Making the Holidays Magical for Your Children After a Divorce With Dr. Kathryn Smerling

The holidays are a particularly challenging time for divorced parents.

How do we navigate our own feelings of loss without passing that heartache onto our children? Can we create new traditions and still make the holidays a magical time for our kids?

Dr. Kathryn Smerling is an educator and psychologist with a Ph.D. from Fordham University and Master’s from Cornell. She started her career as an early childhood educator, creating the Instep curriculum for preschoolers in the State of New Mexico before completing the psychoanalytic program at the National Institute for Psychotherapies. Dr. Smerling has maintained a private practice as a family therapist in Manhattan since 1998, and she holds certificates in Divorce Mediation, Divorce Collaboration and Relational Therapy.

On this episode of Divorce Dialogues, Dr. Smerling joins Katherine to explain what divorced parents can do to navigate feelings of loss during the holidays and find new ways to celebrate with their children. She discusses why it’s crucial for coparents to be collaborative and offers advice on how to approach holiday planning with a difficult ex-spouse. Listen in for Dr. Smerling’s insight around religion as a source of conflict for coparents during the holidays and learn how to talk to your children about creating new traditions after a divorce.

Topics Covered

What divorced parents can do to navigate feelings of loss during the holidays

Dr. Smerling’s advice on finding new ways to celebrate the holidays after a divorce

Why it’s crucial for coparents to be flexible and collaborative re: holiday plans

Why Dr. Smerling suggests including children in creating new traditions

The pros and cons of alternating holidays and examples of creative alternatives

How to approach holiday planning with a high-conflict ex-spouse

Using the BIFF system (Brief, Informative, Firm and Friendly) to communicate with a difficult coparent

How religion can be a source a conflict for divorced parents around the holidays

The role a parenting coordinator can play in making holiday plans

Dr. Smerling’s advice for divorced parents facing the holidays for the first time

Coparenting Through COVID-19 with Cameron Goodman

Katherine Miller — Wed, 27 May 2020 01:00:26 +0000

EP: 126

Cameron Goodman

Coparenting Through COVID-19

KatherineMiller · Coparenting Through COVID-19 with Cameron Goodman

If you had trouble seeing eye to eye with your ex before the Coronavirus hit, the crisis likely magnified the issue. And with the current restrictions on travel, following your carefully crafted custody plan may be impossible. So, what is the best way to approach coparenting through COVID-19?

Cameron Goodman is the founder of Goodman Law Firm, a Chicago area boutique practice specializing in divorce and family law. With nearly 20 years of legal experience, Cameron is dedicated to helping families in transition move forward with their lives, leveraging the collaborative process whenever possible to produce favorable outcomes.

On this episode, Cameron joins Katherine to discuss the challenges of coparenting through COVID-19. He encourages divorced parents to prioritize their kids’ needs over their own and be flexible with custody plans in light of the pandemic, leveraging mediation to facilitate communication when needed. Listen in for Cameron’s insight on how the collaborative process helps coparents work together in a crisis and learn what you can do to demonstrate good parenting judgement in this unprecedented time.