He parents one way, you parent another, but which is the right way?
When it comes to parenting, couples often take two different approaches. He prefers to let them learn from the school of hard knocks, you like to protect and nurture them. Which way is the right way? How do you parent with two different parenting styles? One writer learns that the best thing about having two parents is that you and your children learn that there is no one right way. Sometimes it's OK to stand underneath them as they climb the monkey bars. Other times its OK to let them climb to the very top of the tree. Kids and parents both learn from multiple perspectives.
Separation teaches a couple about deal breakers and letting go in their relationship.
I'm taking a do-over on my marriage after a two-year break. My almost ex-husband and I are looking for a new place to live, and this time we're going in with a plan and clearly defined expectations for how our lives together should look. No way could we have done that 12 years ago or even two years ago when I left. For this marriage to have any chance of making it, it first had to come all the way undone. I met Sam in line for Grateful Dead tickets a few months after I started my first out-of-college reporting job. He was tall and tan and big across the shoulders with brown hair hanging down to his chest. Thirteen years later, we sat on our therapist's couch not touching. "You met me in line for Dead tickets, who did you think you were marrying?" he asked. Right then the answer was easy. I thought I was marrying someone who'd grow up with me as we grew older. And I thought I married someone who'd catch the irony of that comment, because he met me in line for tickets, too. And I was there first.
