Many people feel their parents are overprotective. Try communicating your frustrations, setting firm boundaries, and taking steps to reduce your parents’ anxiety.

Pick a safe time and space

Choose a location where both you and your parents feel comfortable. If you live at home, the living room or kitchen table might work. If you have already moved out, choose a location like a quiet coffee shop. Pick a time when there isn’t any disturbance. 【小题1】.

Use “I” statements

Begin your sentences with the words “I feel” first. 【小题2】 This will make your parents feel like you’re not complaining. For example, do not say, “It’s really overbearing when you check up on me every five minutes. “ Instead, say something like, “I feel stressed out when you call and text a lot when I’m out.”

Express your needs and wants

【小题3】. So it’s important to be transparent about your wants and needs. Express your goals in a way that is firm and respectful. For example, say “I don’t mind following a curfew (宵禁), but I would appreciate not having to answer phone calls every half-hour.” Express appreciation for your parents. Let your parents know you appreciate that they love you.

【小题4】

If you’re trying to have an honest, effective conversation, consider their viewpoints. While you may think it’s unnecessary that your parents worry about a small cold turning into pneumonia, allow them to express this feeling without judgment. 【小题5】 .

While it’s important not to let your parents fear’s affect your life, understanding the root of a fear can help you better address it in the future.

There are always times when your children get bored with studying. There are also moments when you are looking for something educational (教育的) yet funny and easy to do. With a few things and a little preparation, you can easily entertain (娱乐) and educate your children.

Do you read any magazines with pictures? Keep them. They can make a funny family game.

Sit with your children and look at the pictures. You can cut out interesting pictures and ask your children to lay (放置) them out. Use as many pictures as possible. For example, if it is a picture of a book, cut it out; even if it is an action, such as washing clothes, cut it out. Try to get as many different pictures as possible.

In this game, you are going to use the pictures to let your children make up their own stories. Then take any kind of table, even the kitchen table, and let your child lay out the pictures any way they wish. They don’t need to use all of them, just as many as they want.

After they have laid out the pictures, have them tell a story. If some pictures don’t fit in with their stories, don’t use them. If they find a different picture to add another part to their story, let them do it. The more pictures you have, the more creativity (创造力) will come from your children.

Our wedding was about to begin. My throat was tight and my cheeks got red, but I didn’t care. I was ready to marry David Sanchez. We’re a “nontraditional” couple: getting married not at a church but in a bookstore that supports a charity to fight H.I.V. and homelessness.

“Kim! I could walk you down the aisle if you like!” David’s father offered gently.

“I'm OK. But I appreciate that,” I said with a smile. And I was reminded, again, of my dad's absence.

My father died of cancer six weeks ago. For the last two months, we tried to make him feel comfortable and loved as he departed from this world. He always told us that he didn’t like a funeral and insisted our wedding go forward as planned. But how could we honor him since the wedding would be the first time the family would gather after his death and some even didn’t know he was sick?

During the ceremony, my dear friend Eva delivered a reading entitled “When Things Go Missing” by Kathryn Schulz. She paused and got everyone on the same page: “When we are experiencing it, loss often feels like confusion in the usual order of things. In fact, the entire plan of the universe consists of losing, and life amounts to a reverse（逆向的）savings account in which we are eventually robbed of everything.”

I felt the energy full of the room. Everyone was listening. By choosing to accept the pain, we knew what a wedding does to join two families and mark the next chapter for a couple. Loss became a compass that pointed us away from a fantasy and toward celebrating the difficult realities of life.

After rings were exchanged, fried chicken was served, our friends offered so many funny and touching toasts, and finally David sang “Married” on my father’s guitar. I felt joy filling all the holes in my soul. Celebrating my father’s life at our wedding made me grateful for all the time I had spent with him, because it all goes by so fast.