July 13th, 2010
In A Family’s Heartbreak: A Parent’s Introduction to Parental Alienation, there’s a story about my alienated son refusing to attend a New York Yankees baseball game because, well, he was alienated.
His rejection that night hit me especially hard because the New York Yankees and Yankee Stadium is something my Dad shared with me, and something I wanted to share with my sons. Dad took me to my first Yankees’ game at the pre-renovated ”old” stadium in the 1960s. I wanted to give my sons the same fond memories of attending a game with their Dad that my Dad gave me.
George Steinbrenner, owner of the New York Yankees, died today. The Boss’ death comes two days after the death of long-time Yankee Stadium public address announcer Bob Sheppard. The House that Ruth Built is also gone – replaced last year by a “new” Yankee Stadium.
As alienated parents we often think of our children as if time stands still. We picture them as they looked the last time we were together. In our minds, they have the same friends and interests too. We’re well aware that months, and even years, have passed since we’ve seen them, but a small part of us wants to believe that one day we can pick up right where we left off.
Father Time constantly reminds us that nothing stays the same. Today George Steinbrenner entered the ranks of Yankees mythology. We’ll talk about him in the past tense — just like we talk about Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio and Mantle. Maybe one day I’ll attend a game with my son and tell him how I was sitting in the stands at the Old Timer’s Game when George brought Billy back, but it won’t be the same. The Boss is gone. The old stadium is gone. My son’s childhood is gone. Time marches on.
Tags: A Family's Heartbreak, Add new tag, Babe Ruth, Billy Martin, Bob Sheppard, George Steinbrenner, Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, New York Yankees, Parental Alienation, Yankee Stadium
Posted in A Family's Heartbreak, Mike Jeffries, Parental Alienation | 2 Comments »
July 9th, 2010
Mike Jeffries, author of A Family’s Heartbreak: A Parent’s Introduction to Parental Alienation, will talk about surviving parental alienation later this month at two family-focused events in Washington D.C.
Jeffries will first address participants of the D.C. Family Preservation Rally Fest 2010 on Saturday, July 23 at 1:00 p.m. Jeffries will then move over to the Family Preservation Festival. The author’s appearance at the second event is scheduled for 3:o0 p.m. the same day.
Both events are located within walking distance of each other in downtown Washington D.C. The Rally Fest 2010 event is at the beginning of the National Mall between the Capital and the Capital Reflecting Pool. The Fesitival is in Upper Senate Park.
“I am thrilled to address both groups because everyone involved in these events are dedicated to raising the visibility of parental alienation,” Jeffries said. “In addition, many of the participants are alienated parents who would much rather be spending the summer weekend with their children. We hope we can help them deal with their status as targeted parents so they will be ready when their children reach out to them.”
Jeffries will also be at Cosi Restaurant on Friday evening at 8:00 p.m. signing copies of his book, A Family’s Heartbreak: A Parent’s Introduction to Parental Alienation. Cosi is located at 1700 Pennslyvania Ave. N.W.
Tags: A Family's Heartbreak, Family Preservation D.C. Rally Fest 2010, Family Preservation Festival, Media Appearances, Mike Jeffries, Parental Alienation
Posted in A Family's Heartbreak, Appearances, Divorce and healing, Family Preservation D.C. Rally Fest 2010, Family Preservation Festival, Mike Jeffries, Parental Alienation, coping | No Comments »
July 2nd, 2010
Long before an alienating parent starts badmouthing the other parent in front of the child, or disrupting the other parent’s time with the child, he or she sends signals that parental alienation may one day become a reality for the family.
Yesterday was the 10th anniversary of Elian Gonzalez’s return to Cuba. You remember Elian. He was five years old when a fisherman found him bobbing around the Atlantic Ocean in an inner tube. His Mom and others died in the waters off the Florida coast trying to reach the United States from Cuba. His family in Miami wanted to keep Elian in the U.S. — despite the wishes of his father in Cuba. Presidential candidates George W. Bush and Al Gore even got involved in the debate, and a SWAT team and INS agents had to pry Elian loose from his relatives’ custody so he could return to Cuba and his Dad.
A conversation with my future ex-wife about the Elian Gonzalez situation was one of my first signs that I would one day lose my relationship with my son. I missed the sign until yesterday — when I read that Elian said he is thankful for spending the last ten years with his father. But that’s the funny thing about signs — they are all around us. In my most recent Basil & Spice blog at http://www.basilandspice.com/love-and-relationships/72010-cubas-poster-boy-for-parental-alienation-elian-gonzale.html I explain how future alienated parents can miss the obvious.
Tags: A Family's Heartbreak, Al Gore, Basil & Spice, Choosing between Mom and Dad, Elian Gonzalez, George W. Bush, Mike Jeffries, Parental Alienation, Relationships
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June 17th, 2010
What do you get when you introduce Mike Jeffries, the author of A Family’s Heartbreak: A Parent’s Introduction to Parental Alienation to Divorce Source Radio host Steve Peck?
Just that most informative, enlightening discussion on parental alienation you’ll find anywhere, that’s all. You can access the interview at http://www.DivorceSourceRadio.com.
“Steve Peck combines his background in broadcasting with his interest in family and divorce to produce a quality program that could go head-to-head with interview programs anywhere on radio or television,” says Jeffries. “His knowledge of the legal, psychological and emotional issues surrounding parental alienation allowed us to present perspectives of parental alienation that I don’t typically get to explore in interviews. Listeners will find the information enlightening and extremely valuable.”
Divorce Source Radio produces free programs featuring both legal and emotional advice from respected professionals. The weekly streaming podcasts are listened to by thousands of individuals through the iTunes store by searching “Divorce Source Radio” or on http://www.DivorceSourceRadio.com.
Tags: A Family's Heartbreak, Amazon.com, coping, divorce, Divorce Source Radio, Dr. Joel Davies, iTunes, Media, Mike Jeffries, Parental Alienation, Relationships, Steve Peck
Posted in A Family's Heartbreak, Co-parenting, Divorce and healing, Parental Alienation, Relationships, coping, divorce | No Comments »
June 9th, 2010
Mike Jeffries, author of A Family’s Heartbreak: A Parent’s Introduction to Parental Alienation, discusses the case of a New York mother who is going to jail for her alienating behavior on his latest post for Basil & Spice at http://www.basilandspice.com/love-and-relationships/.
“In A Family’s Heartbreak we talk about how parental alienation just doesn’t damage a child’s relationship with the targeted parent, but eventually damages the child’s relationship with both parents,” Jeffries says. ” This alienating parent may think she is going to jail for the noblest of reasons, but wouldn’t the children be better off having the love an attention of both parents this summer rather than being estranged from one parent while the other parent sits in jail?”
Basil & Spice is a daily content provider to online and print news organizations. Mike Jeffries is one of 400 Basil & Spice contributors.
Tags: A Family's Heartbreak, Basil & Spice, Choosing between Mom and Dad, Dennis Hopper, Divorce and Custody, Mike Jeffries, Parental Alienation
Posted in A Family's Heartbreak, Basil & Spice, Parental Alienation, Relationships | 2 Comments »
May 12th, 2010
“It is the combination of the detailed account of the author attempting to come to grips with his inability to normalize his relationship with his son, together with Dr. Davies providing a great deal of support and insight to him as to how alienation takes place, that makes this book required reading for any parent who is victimized by parental alienation as well as professionals who treat or evaluate alienation.”
That’s just one excerpt from The American Journal of Family Therapy’s recent review of A Family’s Heartbreak: A Parent’s Introduction to Parental Alienation. The American Journal of Family Therapy published the review in its upcoming issue, Volume 38, Issue 3, 2010, pages 279-280, and is available online. The publication will be out in print on May 28, 2010.
The American Journal of Family Therapy is the incisive, authoritative, independent voice in an ever-changing field. The publication includes the latest techniques for treating families; theory on normal and dysfunctional family relationships; research on sexuality and intimacy; the effects of traditional and alternative family styles; and community approaches to family intervention. All articles in the publication undergo editorial screening and peer review.
The review also cites author Mike Jeffries for, “providing the reader with a rational understanding of the risk factors that can be potentiated in the alienating parent as a result of the threat of abandonment. The reader is presented with a rational understanding of what could otherwise be an incomprehensible switch of loyalties by the child from being attuned to both parents to the child’s completely disregarding, denigrating, and rejecting the other parent and the other parent’s extended family.”
The review, written by Abe Worenklein, Ph.D., a Clinical Psychologist from Outremont, Quebec, also calls parental alienation a serious form of abuse. “Furthermore,” Worenklein wrote, “Jeffries’ and Davies’ accounts make it very clear that not only is an alienated child being robbed of his childhood but that the alienation should be seen as a serious form of psychological/emotional abuse that can impact significantly on future relationships and on the child’s development.”
A Family’s Heartbreak: A Parent’s Introduction to Parental Alienation, is available at http://www.afamilysheartbreak.com, on Amazon, and through bookstores worldwide.
Tags: A Family's Heartbreak, Abe Worenklein, American Journal of Family Therapy, Book Review, Dr. Joel Davies, Mike Jeffries
Posted in A Family's Heartbreak, American Journal of Family Therapy, Book Reviews, Dr. Joel Davies, Mike Jeffries, Parental Alienation, Relationships | 2 Comments »
April 23rd, 2010
If you missed Mike Jeffries, author of A Family’s Heartbreak: A Parent’s Introduction to Parental Alienationon on the Parents Rule! radio show, now is your chance to find out what you missed.
Join Jeffries as he discusses Parental Alienation Awareness Day, coping tips for targeted parents, and a whole lot more with Parents Rule! host Pat Montgomery. The one hour program was originally broadcast on April 15, 2010 on Americas Web Radio and Radio Sandy Springs. Listen to the podcast (.mp3)
Tags: A Family's Heartbreak, Media, Media Appearances, Mike Jeffries, Parental Alienation, Parental Alienation Awareness Day, Parents Rule!, Pat Montgomery
Posted in A Family's Heartbreak, Appearances, Mike Jeffries, Parental Alienation, Parental Alienation Awareness Day, Parents Rule! | No Comments »
April 21st, 2010
There are all sorts of official days on the calendar.
Every January 19th we’re asked to celebrate National Popcorn Day. April 16th is set aside for Stress Awareness Day. Mother Goose has her own day on May 1st. Even catfish, thanks to a proclamation signed by catfish-loving President Ronald Reagan in 1987, get June 25th to call their own.
At A Family’s Heartbreak we love popcorn, we’re opposed to stress of any kind, and we would never say a bad word about Mother Goose. We don’t even mind catfish having their own day, even though we’re more partial to salmon. I’m sure if we would have budgeted more than five minutes for research we would have discovered that there is a National Salmon Day too.
However there is one day that deserves to stand apart from days acknowledging snack foods, nursery rhymes and fresh water fish. Parental Alienation Awareness Day is April 25. This is the fifth consecutive year that parents, friends and family members will gather on April 25 and bring attention to parental alienation — a destructive family dynamic that is destroying countless loving, parent/child relationships all over the world. On April 25 from Boston to Brazil, London to Los Angeles, and Singapore to Sydney, people will light candles, blow bubbles and share their heartbreaking stories — all to educate elected officials, legal and mental health professionals about a mental health issue that should not be ignored or mischaracterized any longer.
Contrary to what many damaged people and zealous advocates on the web would have you believe, parental alienation is not another name for pedophilia. Parental alienation is also not a legal strategy designed to allow an abusive parent to continue beating up on the kids. Finally, parental alienation is not the latest get-rich-quick-scheme from consultants and authors who are often accused of trying make money off the backs of people who are at their most financially vulnerable.
Parental alienation is the unhealthy byproduct of one parent’s fear of abandonment. These fears often date back to childhood. When a parent with these fears faces divorce or separation they need a child to take over for the exiting spouse or partner and keep those abandonment fears away. The parent pulls the child into the adult conflict and makes his or her fears the child’s fears. It doesn’t take long for a child, looking for security in a world where his or her parents are no longer working together to take care of the child’s needs, to form a very unhealthy, co-dependent relationship with the alienating parent. There is little room for the previously-loved other parent in the child’s new world.
At its core, parental alienation is about the alienating parent and child’s fears, and the child’s loyalty to the alienating parent. That reminds me, Loyalty Day is also May 1st.
Tags: A Family's Heartbreak, Advocacy, Loyalty Day, Mother Goose, National Catfish Day, National Popcorn Day, Parental Alienation, Parental Alienation Awareness Day, Stress Awareness Day
Posted in A Family's Heartbreak, Advocacy, Parental Alienation, Parental Alienation Awareness Day | 2 Comments »
April 13th, 2010
Mike Jeffries, author of A Family’s Heartbreak: A Parent’s Introduction to Parental Alienation, has a new blog entry on Basil & Spice at http://www.basilandspice.com/love-and-relationships/. In this month’s entry Jeffries promotes Parental Alienation Awareness Day and explains why parents alienate children from the children’s other parent.
“The broad readership of Basil & Spice is an ideal way to tell people about Parental Alienation Awareness Day on April 25, 2010,” Jeffries explains. “I can’t think of a better way to raise awareness of parental alienation than to participate in one of the many events going on in countries around the world. After all, awareness leads to education and education leads to change,” he added.
Tags: A Family's Heartbreak, Basil & Spice, Mike Jeffries, Parental Alienation, Parental Alienation Awareness Day
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April 8th, 2010
Mike Jeffries, author of A Family’s Heartbreak: A Parent’s Introduction to Parental Alienation, joins the Parents Rule! radio program on Thursday, April 15 from 2-3 p.m. EST on Radio Sandy Springs and Americas Web Radio.
“Parents Rule! is recognizing Parental Alienation Awareness Day on April 25 by devoting its April 15 show to the topic of parental alienation. I’m thrilled to join host Pat Montgomery and raise the visibility of an issue that affects countless children, parents and extended family members every year,” Jeffries said.
The Parents Rule! radio show is for parents of all ages and offers the information parents need and the encouragement they crave. Listeners can hear the program live on http://www.radiosandysprings.com or http://www.americaswebradio.com. Listeners can also call in and ask questions by dialing 404-943-1620. The show is also podcast on iTunes by browsing Parents Rule.
Pat Montgomery is the author of Now You Know What I Know: Parenting Wisdom of a Grandmother. Montgomery’s website is http://www.parentsrulewithpat.com.
Tags: A Family's Heartbreak, Media, Media Appearances, Parental Alienation, Parental Alienation Awareness Day, Parents Rule!, Pat Montgomery
Posted in A Family's Heartbreak, Appearances, Mike Jeffries, Parental Alienation, Parental Alienation Awareness Day, Parents Rule! | No Comments »
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